PC-NRLF 


AN  INTRODUCTION  TO  THE  STUDY  OF 
ADOLESCENT   EDUCATION 


AN  INTRODUCTION 


TO   THE 


STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT 
EDUCATION 


BY 


CYRIL  BRUYN  ANDREWS 


NEW   YORK 

REBMAN    COMPANY 

HERALD    SQUARE    BUILDING 
141-145  WEST  36TH  STREET 


Reserved. 


PREFACE. 

THIS  small  book  lays  no  claim  to  be  a  comprehensive 
work  on  adolescent  education ;  many  volumes  would 
be  required  to  do  full  justice  to  the  complexity  and 
importance  of  the  subject  dealt  with.  The  object 
of  these  few  chapters  is  not  to  be  comprehensive, 
but  rather  suggestive. 

At  the  risk  of  wearisome  repetition  much  stress 
has  been  laid  on  the  pathological  symptoms  of 
adolescent  development,  and  also  on  the  evil  and 
unnatural  tendencies  which  are  so  strikingly  charac- 
teristic of  some  who  have  the  care  of  boys  or  girls 
in  large  numbers.  Such  subjects  cannot  be  ignored 
in  the  study  of  adolescence,  and,  since  in  the  past 
they  have  been  so  carefully  and  so  unwisely  avoided, 
they  can  hardly  receive  at  present  too  much  quiet 
scientific  attention. 

We  are  realizing  that  many  school  offences  are 
due  to  the  fact  that  the  delinquents  have  had  no 
share  in  the  making  of  the  laws  which  they  have 
broken,  and  have  taken  no  part  in  the  discussion 
which  has  preceded  their  enactment.  On  a  fuller 
recognition  of  this  psychological  fact  much  of  the 
future  evolution  of  our  educational  theory  depends. 


484 


vi  PREFACE 

Anger  or  pity  has  also  in  the  past  led  us  into  errors 
from  which  a  little  calm  and  reasonable  thought 
would  often  have  saved  us.  We  seem  to  have  been 
quite  satisfied  with  good  intentions,  and  our  religious 
faith  appears  to  have  hindered  rather  than  furthered 
our  educational  investigations.  We  are  only  just 
realizing  that  prevention  is  man's  work,  not  God's 
alone,  and  that  the  sphere  of  religion  is  not  merely 
confined  to  works  of  rescue. 

If  we  look  far  into  the  future  there  is  great  cause 
for  hope.  As  we  realize  that  our  children  are  edu- 
cated by  influences,  and  not  by  information,  we  shall 
demand  a  different  type  of  teacher,  and  there  is  little 
doubt  that  our  race  possesses  qualities  capable  of 
producing  it.  We  shall  look  more  and  more  to  the 
child  to  guide  us  in  the  manner  and  substance  of 
our  teaching,  and  we  shall  discover  how  often  the 
happiness  of  the  adult  has  been  ruined  by  the 
teaching  of  philosophy  a  few  years  too  soon  or  a 
few  years  too  late. 


CYRIL  BRUYN  ANDREWS. 


REFORM  CLUB, 

July  1,  1912. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I 

THE   SCIENCE  OF  EDUCATION — MODERN   VIEWS  AND 
ANCIENT  DOGMAS 

PAGES 

Two  methods  of  educational  criticism — Education  a  changing 
science — Direct  and  indirect  influences  on  character — 
State  education — The  education  of  the  directing  classes 
seldom  questioned — The  initiation  of  separate  schools 
for  young  boys  by  Arnold — Boarding  schools  and  day 
schools — The  unsuitable  preparation  for  after-life  which 
our  wealthier  classes  receive — The  social  revolution  of 
to-day — The  influences  of  kindred  sciences  on  educational 
questions — The  necessity  for  a  synthetic  view, of  educa- 

i/  «/  j 

tion — The  adult  and  the  adolescent  mind-*-The  true  rela- 
tion between  psysiological  and  phychological  studies — 
Monism  and  dualism  in  fatigue — Monism  and  dualism 
in  ethics — Monism  and  dualism  in  eugenics — Monism 
and  dualism  in  intellect  and  emotion — The  individual 
as  a  sign  of  the  society  -  1-40 

CHAPTER  II 

ADULT  INFLUENCE  ON  ADOLESCENCE 

The  responsibility  of  the  adult — Parents — Head  masters — 

Under  masters   -  41-55 

CHAPTER  III 

IMMORALITY  AND  SEXUAL  PERVERSION   IN   SCHOOLS 

General  reticence  on  sexual  pathology  in  school  life — The 
question  of  responsibility — The  cramping  environment 
of  our  boarding  schools — The  warnings  of  moralists — 
The  phenomena  of  sexual  perversions  -  56-78 

vii 


viii  CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  CURES  OF  IMMORALITY  AND  SEXUAL  PATHOLOGY 

IN   SCHOOLS 

PAGES 

Three  methods  of  reform — The  conservative  method :  Super- 
vision, religious  dogma,  athletics — The  rational  method : 
Self-initiation  in  work  and  play,  sexual  instruction, 
social  duties  and  civil  life — Co-education  -  79-117 


CHAPTER  V 

SELF-ASSERTION  AND  DISCIPLINE 

The  definition  of  self-assertion  and  disciplined—The  range  of 

self-expression — The  effects  of  discipline  118-135 

CHAPTER  VI 

SELF-ASSERTION  :    THE  PSYCHOLOGIST'S  ASPECT 

The  atmosphere  of  our  schools — Examinations — Memory  :  its 
use  and  its  abuse — The  possibilities  of  self-assertion  in 
various  studies :  Classics,  mathematics,  history  and 
geography,  handicraft,  drawing,  design,  piano-playing, 
natural  history,  acting — A  few  conclusions  -  136-159 

CHAPTER  VII 

SELF-ASSERTION  :    THE  PHYSIOLOGICAL  ASPECT 

The  trained  athlete — Team  games — The  attempt  to  manu- 
facture self-expression — Pleasure  and  self-realization — 
Laughter — Swimming — The  scout  movement — Over- 
fatigue — Chemical  activities  and  personal  interest  160-174 

CHAPTER  VIII 

FUTURE  IDEALS 

The  improved  type  of  master — The  effect  of  a  rational  master 
on  the  adolescent — Morality  and  the  realization  of  civic 
life— Religion  -  ...  175-185 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  OF  WORKS  REFERRED  TO 

NOTE. — The  references  are  to  pages  in  this  work. 

ARNOLD  OF  EUGBY:  Contributions  to  Education,  pp.  9,  10,  49,  141. 

Cambridge  University  Press,  1898. 
BOARD   OF  EDUCATION,   1896-97 :    Special    Eeports    on    Educational 

Subjects,  vol.  i.,  p.  177. 
BOARD  OF  EDUCATION  :  Special  Eeports — Preparatory  Schools  for  Boys, 

vol.  vi.,  pp.  163,  169,  170. 
BADEN-POWELL,  GENERAL  SIR  E. :  Scouting  for  Boys,  pp.  23,  67,  127, 

170,  171,  172,  173.     Pearson,  1911. 

BAX,  ERNEST  BELFORD  :  Outspoken  Essays,  p.  67.     Eeeves,  1897. 
BERGSON,  HENRI  :  Laughter,  p.  183.     Macmillan,  1911. 
CLOUSTON,  T.  S. :  Mental  Diseases,  pp.  66,  82.    Churchill,  1904. 
CLOUSTON,  T.  S.  :  Hygiene  of  Mind,  p.  68.     Methuen,  1909. 
DUKES,  CLEMENT  :  Health  at  School,  p.  62.     Cassell,  1887. 
DARWIN,  CHARLES  :  Origin  of  Species,  p.  37.     Murray,  1911. 
ELLIS,  HAVELOCK:  Studies  in  the  Psychology  of  Sex,  p.  57.     Davis, 

Philadelphia,  1906-1912. 
FINLAY- JOHNSON,  H. :   The  Dramatic  Method  of  Teaching,  p.  156. 

Nisbet. 
FOREL,  AUGUSTE  :  The  Sexual  Question,  pp.  61,  100,  105.    Eebman, 

1908. 

GALTON,  FRANCIS  :  Hereditary  Genius,  p.  24.     Macmillan,  1892. 
GEORGE,  W.  E. :  The  Junior  Eepublic,  p.  98.    Appleton,  1912. 
GOULD,  F.  J. :  Youth's  Noble  Path,  p.  184.     Longmans,  1911. 
HALL,  G.  STANLEY  :  Adolescence,  pp.  25,  68.     Appleton,  1905. 
HOLMES,  EDMOND  :  What  Is  and  what  Might  Be,  p.  14.     Constable, 

1911. 

IBSEN,  HENRIK  :  Ghosts,  p.  67.     Walter  Scott,  1907. 
JAMES,  WILLIAM  :  Talks  to  Teachers,  p.  175.    Longmans,  1910. 
LYTTELTON,  E. :  Training  of  the  Young  in  the  Laws  of  Sex,  p.  180. 

Longmans,  1910. 

LYTTELTON,  E. :  Mothers  and  Sons,  p.  180.     Macmillan,  1910. 
MERCIER,   CHARLES  :    Criminal   Eesponsibility,   pp.   58,   59.      Oxford 
University  Press,  1905. 

ix 


x         BIBLIOGRAPHY  OF  WORKS  REFERRED  TO 

MITCHELL,  A. :   Dreaming,  Laughing,   and  Blushing,  pp.   121,   165, 

Green,  1905. 

MOSLEY  COMMISSION  TO  UNITED  STATES:  Report,  pp.  Ill,  138, 139, 182. 
Mosso,  A. :  Fatigue,  pp.  33,  173,  174.     Sonnenschein,  1906. 
REID,  G.  ARCHDALL  :  Laws  of  Heredity,  p.  34.     Methuen,  1910. 
RICHARDSON,  B.  W. :  Diseases  of  Modern  Life,  p.  176. 
ROMANES,  GEORGE  :  Mind,  Motion,  and  Monism,  p.  30.     Green,  1896. 
SADLER,  M.  E. :  Moral  Instruction  and  Training  in  Schools  (2  vols.), 

pp.  63,  98,  112,  182.     Longmans,  1909. 

SPENCER,  HERBERT  :  Education,  pp.  45,  125.    Williams  and  Norgate. 
SPILLER,  GUSTAV  :   The  Mind  of  Man,  pp.  39,  164.     Sonnenschein, 

1902. 
STEVENSON,  R.  L. :  The  Lantern  Bearers,  pp.  29,  175.    Chatto  and 

Windus,  1909. 
WELTON,  J.  :  The  Psychology  of  Education,  pp.  150,  151.     Macmillan 

1911. 
WILBERFORCE  :  The  Trinity  of  Evil,  p.  67.    Hodder  and  Stoughton, 

1886. 


AN    INTRODUCTION    TO 

THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT 
EDUCATION 

CHAPTER  I 

THE    SCIENCE    OF    EDUCATION — MODERN    VIEWS    AND 
ANCIENT    DOGMAS 

Two  methods  of  educational  criticism — Education  a  changing 
science — Direct  and  indirect  influences  on  character — State 
education — The  education  of  the  directing  classes  seldom 
questioned — The  initiation  of  separate  schools  for  young 
boys  by  Arnold — Boarding  schools  and  day  schools — The 
unsuitable  preparation  for  after-life  which  our  wealthier 
classes  receive — The  social  revolution  of  to-day — The  influ- 
ences of  kindred  sciences  on  educational  questions — The 
necessity  for  a  synthetic  view  of  education — The  adult  and 
the  adolescent  mind — The  true  relation  between  physio- 
logical and  psychological  studies — Monism  and  dualism  in 
fatigue  —  Monism  and  dualism  in  ethics  —  Monism  and 
dualism  in  eugenics — Monism  and  dualism  in  intellect  and 
emotion — The  individual  as  a  sign  of  the  society. 

Two  METHODS  OF  EDUCATIONAL  CRITICISM. — The 
science  of  education  has  been  constantly  before 
the  public  in  recent  years.  It  has  been  discussed  by 
those  who  consider  that  if  a  system  is  old  it  must 
also  be  admirable,  and  by  those  who  consider  that 
all  ancient  methods  are  necessarily  bad.  Some  talk 
of  the  adolescent  as  if  he  were  an  overgrown  child 

1 


2:'  ••'•THE 'STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

and  nothing  more  ;  others  contend  that  the  adolescent 
has  all  the  vices  of  the  adult,  with  none  of  his 
self-control. 

Calm  and  scientific  criticism  has  been  rare.  Those 
who  believe  in  the  sanctity  of  ancient  institutions 
have  refrained  with  an  almost  religious  reverence 
from  inquiry  and  criticism.  To  glance  beneath  the 
mellowed  traditions  of  our  famous  schools,  and  to  dis- 
cover the  real  atmosphere  in  which  our  boys  and 
girls  live,  would  seem  to  them  indecent  and  almost 
immoral. 

There  are  also  a  large  number  of  people  appearing 
to  take  an  interest  in  education  who,  though  free 
from  the  complacent  satisfaction  which  is  so  fatal 
to  improvement,  suffer  from  other  failings  which 
render  their  investigations  equally  unprofitable. 
The  scandal-mongers,  who  delight  the  sensational 
cravings  of  a  certain  class  of  reader  by  weekly 
accounts  of  the  immorality  and  evil  which  infest 
our  large  boarding  schools,  seldom  accomplish  any 
real  good  :  the  readers  and  writers  of  these  articles 
alike  display  the  greatest  possible  enthusiasm  for 
scandal  and  the  smallest  conceivable  interest  in  the 
science  of  education.  The  subject  of  many  of  these 
revelations  is  often  the  school  or  reformatory,  but 
it  frequently  changes  to  the  asylum  or  divorce  court 
if  the  latter  are  likely  to  attract  more  public  interest. 

Although  there  has  been  a  tendency  lately  to  a 
more  scientific  analysis  of  adolescent  phenomena, 
educational  study  is  still,  to  a  large  extent,  the 
monopoly  of  the  satisfied  conservative  who  denies 
the  necessity  of  investigation,  or  of  the  debauched 
sensualist,  whose  last  wish  would  be  to  cure  the  evils 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  EDUCATION  3 

he  delights  to  reveal.  The  conservative  is  often  so 
genuinely  disgusted  by  the  evils  which  are  suggested 
that,  even  if  he  were  convinced  of  their  almost 
universal  prevalence,  he  would  be  incapable  of 
discovering  their  causes  or  their  effects.  The 
sensual  reveller,  although  perhaps  outwardly  a 
moralist,  is  at  heart  secretly  convinced  that  the 
chief  enjoyment  of  the  investigator  consists  in  the 
revelation  of  immorality.  There  is  little  hope  that 
any  improvement  will  come  from  either  of  these 
groups  of  educational  enthusiasts. 

It  will  be  my  aim  neither  to  ignore  nor  to  revel  in 
the  evils  of  school  life ;  I  shall  endeavour  to  treat 
sincerely,  and  I  hope  scientifically,  some  of  the 
most  conspicuous  evils,  and  to  show  a  few 
practical  remedies  for  the  vice  that  exists.  A  book 
on  adolescence  or  on  education  which  ignores  the 
immorality  of  our  large  boys'  and  girls'  schools  is 
certainly  incomplete  and  generally  hypocritical ; 
the  unhealthy  atmosphere  in  which  many  of  the 
adolescent  live  is  only  denied  by  those  who  have 
little  knowledge  of  facts  or  good  cause  for  reti- 
cence. Both  the  gravity  and  prevalence  of  moral 
perversion  should  be  sufficient  reasons  for  its  con- 
stant and  careful  study.  Few  seem  to  realize  that 
when  we  turn  from  immorality  in  disgust  we  are 
doing  our  best  to  further  its  continuance. 

It  is  essential  in  the  study  of  youthful  temptations 
and  adolescent  failings  that  we  should  keep  our 
minds  clear,  scientific,  and  unemotional.  The  calm 
and  unprejudiced  student  of  adolescence  will  alone 
be  able  to  distinguish  its  inevitable  evils  from  the 
vices  which  environment  has  manufactured,  and  he 


4         THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

only  will  be  able  to  discover  causes  and  remedies 
for  ever  hidden  from  the  disgusted  moralist  or 
morbid  scandal-monger. 

EDUCATION  A  CHANGING  SCIENCE. — Education  is 
not  a  science  which  admits  of  unalterable  dogmas  or 
sweeping  generalizations.  The  living  truth  of  one 
generation  becomes  sterile  in  the  next.  The  environ- 
ment of  the  adult  alters ;  the  surroundings  during 
adolescence  should  change  in  sympathy.  The  finest 
education  of  to-day  will  to-morrow  unfit  the  adol- 
escent for  his  future  life ;  and  if  we  allow  any 
rule  to  guide  us  in  the  science  of  education, 
it  should  be  a  theory  of  constant  change  and 
sympathetic  variation.  Different  from  us  our 
descendants  must  be ;  wiser  and  more  learned  we 
hope  they  may  be ;  but  however  profound  their 
theories,  and  however  beneficial  their  practices,  they 
will  never  be  able  to  do  more  than  define  the  method 
of  education  most  suitable  for  their  particular  gene- 
ration. If  we  once  accept  the  proposition  that 
education  is  the  art  of  adapting  our  children  to  the 
life  which  they  are  to  lead  as  adults,  we  must  be 
careful  that  we  are  adapting  the  adolescent,  not  for 
the  life  of  yesterday  nor  for  the  environment  of 
to-day,  but  for  the  ever-widening  and  larger  life 
which  will  be  his  lot  to-morrow. 

DIRECT  AND  INDIRECT  INFLUENCES  ON  CHARACTER. 
— Many  affirm  that  character  is  better  formed  by 
indirect  than  by  direct  influences ;  it  is  the  duty  of 
the  school,  they  say,  to  provide  indirect  influences ; 
and  if  direct  teaching  is  necessary  at  all,  it  should 
be  left  almost  entirely  to  the  home.  The  believers 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  EDUCATION  5 

in  indirect  teaching  have  pointed  with  pride  to  the 
splendid  results  which  they  attribute  to  a  classical 
training,  and  have  affirmed  that  no  study,  however 
useful,  moulds  the  adolescent  character  as  finely 
as  the  learning  of  Greek  and  Latin.  For  many 
years  these  statements  have  remained  unquestioned. 
To-day  we  are  beginning  to  challenge  the  usefulness 
of  a  knowledge  of  Latin  and  Greek,  and  we  are 
wondering  whether  a  more  direct  method  of  in- 
fluencing character  would  not  achieve  an  even  better 
result ;  we  are  doubting  whether  the  subtle  training 
acquired  from  painful  and  often  vague  endeavours 
to  master  the  intricacies  of  Greek  verbs  really  helps 
a  boy  in  the  business  or  pleasure  of  adult  life.  Is  a 
man  who  has  acquired  an  ability  to  write  poor  Latin 
prose  a  more  useful  citizen,  a  better  husband,  or  a 
wiser  father  than  he  who  lacks  this  accomplishment? 
Do  we  observe  in  the  average  product  of  our  public 
schools  that  fine  beauty  of  thought  and  eloquence 
of  expression  which,  we  are  told,  is  the  indirect  result 
of  a  classical  training  ? 

There  is  little  doubt  that  the  study  of  Greek  and 
Latin  does  leave  an  impression  on  the  mind  of  the 
boy,  which  is  carried  into  adult  life,  and  the  training 
involved  may  be  in  many  ways  beneficial.  The 
question  which  to-day,  however,  occupies  our  minds 
is  not  whether  the  training  in  a  classical  education 
does  any  good,  but  whether  its  beneficial  effects  are 
so  conspicuous  as  to  justify  its  general  use  among 
the  upper  classes  throughout  the  country.  It  is  a 
matter  of  increasing  doubt  whether  a  knowledge  of 
Latin  and  Greek  is  of  any  great  assistance  to  the 
adult  in  the  wise  choice  of  a  profession,  or  whether 


6         THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

the  training  involved  in  a  mastery  of  the  classics 
assists  pre-eminently  in  the  wise  expenditure  of  an 
income,  be  it  earned  or  inherited. 

STATE  EDUCATION. — The  great  majority  of  boys 
arid  girls  do  not  come  under  the  influence  of  a 
classical  training ;  it  is  for  the  directing  classes 
rather  than  for  the  working  classes  that  a  training 
in  Latin  and  Greek  is  supposed  to  be  beneficial,  and 
even  the  most  ardent  upholder  of  a  classical  training 
would  hesitate  to  advocate  it  in  the  compulsory 
schools  supported  by  the  Government. 

A  school  under  Government  control  must  neces- 
sarily tend  to  change  more  with  the  times  than  one 
which  is  independent  of  State  interference.  The 
Government  is  responsible  for  the  teaching  at  its 
elementary  schools ;  the  product  of  the  elementary 
school,  to  a  large  extent,  regulates  the  Government. 
This  interdependence  tends  to  keep  both  State  and 
school  in  harmony  with  each  other,  and  no  State 
school  curriculum  can  owe  its  existence  to  mere 
tradition.  State  education  will  always  be  a  matter 
of  political  controversy,  and  will  be  continually  open 
to  the  unhampered  criticisms  of  all  classes.  Since 
the  cost,  the  sphere  of  action,  and  the  healthiness 
of  a  Government  school  will  always  be  matters  of 
public  interest,  the  education  in  a  State  school  can 
never  be  very  far  behind  the  most  modern  and  sane 
views  on  adolescence. 

EDUCATION  OF  THE  DIRECTING  CLASSES  SELDOM 
QUESTIONED. — Our  large  preparatory  and  public 
schools  are,  on  the  contrary,  not  brought  into  the 
glare  of  political  controversy,  and  much  that  is  bad 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  EDUCATION  7 

escapes  notice  under  the  soft  light  of  ancient  splen- 
dour ;  much  thoughtless  eulogy  is  bestowed,  and 
scientific  criticism  is  discreetly  withheld.  Few  who 
know  their  inner  life  care  to  subject  it  to  a 
critical  examination.  Nothing  could  differ  more 
from  this  than  the  position  of  the  State  school, 
where  criticism  and  investigation  are  not  only 
possible,  but  continually  encouraged  by  opposing 
politicians.  It  is  everybody's  duty,  we  are  con- 
stantly assured,  to  criticize  the  education  of  the 
working  classes ;  it  is  difficult  to  find  the  people 
whose  duty  it  is  to  criticize  the  school  life  of  our 
ruling  classes. 

The  feeling  of  State  responsibility  is  growing 
rapidly  to-day,  and  the  present  attention  which  the 
Government  schools  receive  will  be  small  compared 
with  the  consideration  which  they  will  obtain  from  our 
descendants  ;  but  there  is  also  another  factor  which 
will  insure  them  that  wholesome  and  sane  develop- 
ment which  only  constant  criticism  can  give.  They 
are  day  schools,  and,  whatever  may  be  the  compara- 
tive merits  of  the  day  school  and  the  boarding  school, 
the  day  school  is  more  open  to  inquiry  from  without 
than  the  boarding  school ;  parents  who,  from  want 
of  knowledge  refrain  from  criticizing  the  latter,  will 
always  take  a  lively  interest  in  the  former. 

It  is  for  these  reasons,  and  not  because  I  consider 
State  education  unimportant,  that  I  pass  over 
our  elementary  schools  with  comparatively  little 
comment.  The  large  schools  to  which  our  wealthier 
citizens  send  their  children  during  adolescence  are 
in  far  greater  need  of  criticism,  since,  being  boarding 
schools,  they  are  far  more  potent  for  good  or  evil. 


8         THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

Yet,  instead  of  receiving  more  criticism,  they  re- 
ceive less  ;  whether  from  cowardice  or  apathy, 
there  is  a  conspiracy  of  silence,  and,  except  for 
vague  stories  of  scandal,  we  have  no  inquiry  on 
the  subject. 

The  education  of  the  directing  classes  in  England 
continues  for  about  fifteen  or  twenty  years.  At  three 
the  child  requires  something  more  than  feeding,  and 
education  continues  until  the  adolescent  is  twenty- 
three  or  twenty-four.  In  some  cases  this  period  is 
curtailed,  but  the  development  of  the  University 
system  seems  to  point  to  an  increased  belief  in  a 
lengthy  educational  period. 

The  years  of  adolescence  are  certainly  the  most 
important,  and,  in  many  respects,  the  most  interest- 
ing in  the  development  of  the  boy  or  girl.  From 
ten  to  eighteen  the  adolescent  finds  himself  possessed 
of  a  maximum  of  potential  energy,  and,  if  he  is  the 
child  of  clever  parents,  this  period  is  often  fraught 
with  grave  dangers  ;  he  discovers  that  he  is  possessed 
of  a  strong  desire  for  self-expression  and  self- 
realization,  and  yet  he  is  almost  entirely  desti- 
tute of  experience,  and  the  results  attending  his 
actions  are  often  completely  unknown.  It  is  at  this 
period  more  than  at  any  other  that  a  wise,  far-sighted, 
and  scientific  education  is  most  needed,  and  it  is  at 
this  period  that  education  has  received  least  attention. 
The  boy  of  the  more  intelligent  and  wealthier  classes 
is  in  far  greater  danger  during  adolescence  than  his 
poorer  brother,  and  it  would  be  well  if  his  parents 
sometimes  bestowed  a  little  less  thought  on  the 
education  of  the  working  classes,  and  remembered 
the  saying  that  lilies  fester  worse  than  weeds. 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  EDUCATION  9 

INITIATION  OF  SEPARATE  SCHOOLS  FOR  YOUNG 
BOYS  BY  ARNOLD. — Until  1837  there  were  few  traces 
of  preparatory  schools  in  England.  The  boy  left 
home  when  he  was  about  ten  or  eleven  for  the  public 
school,  and  he  spent  the  whole  period  of  adolescence 
under  its  roof.  It  is  chiefly  to  Dr.  Arnold  of  Rugby 
that  we  owe  the  preparatory  schools  as  they  exist 
to-day. 

At  Rugby  Arnold  saw  that  the  evil  barriers  which 
existed  between  masters  and  boys  could  not  be  easily 
or  quickly  removed,  and,  in  his  opinion,  the  younger 
boys  suffered  most  from  the  evils  of  public  school 
life  :  he  hoped  that  in  preparatory  schools  younger 
boys  might  have  some  of  the  advantages  of  home 
life  and  yet  be  prepared  for  the  rougher  public 
school  life  which  was  to  follow.  Whether  the  separa- 
tion of  the  preparatory  school  from  the  public  school 
has  achieved  what  Dr.  Arnold  intended  is  doubtful, 
and  it  is  certain  that  in  many  of  our  preparatory 
schools  to-day  he  would  have  found  the  evils  which 
he  wished  to  cure  accentuated  rather  than  di- 
minished. 

When  Arnold  wrote  his  treatises  on  education,  the 
public  school  system  had  been  even  less  criticized 
than  it  is  to-day.  The  comparative  advantages  of 
the  day  school  and  boarding  school  had  seldom 
been  scientifically  discussed,  and  the  suggestion  of 
co-education  as  a  practical  and  immediate  remedy 
for  the  perverted  morality  of  our  boarding  schools 
would  have  surprised  even  such  a  broad-minded 
thinker  as  Dr.  Arnold.  While  the  evils  which  the 
head  master  of  Rugby  pointed  out  still  exist  in  many 
of  our  large  boarding  schools,  the  remedies  by  which 


10       THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

we  seek  to  cure  and  prevent  them  are  growing  daily 
more  numerous  and  revolutionary. 

Immorality,  reasoned  Arnold,  could  only  be  cured 
by  an  improved  environment ;  but  by  an  improved 
environment  he  did  not  imply  any  drastic  change  in 
school  conditions,  but  rather  a  more  \vholesome  tone 
of  thought  brought  about  by  an  increased  individual 
control  of  evil  passions.  An  environment  so  altered 
and  improved  that  the  boy  or  girl  actually  forgot 
the  temptations  of  moral  perversion  would  have 
sounded  to  Arnold  a  fantastic  fairy  tale  incapable  of 
earthly  realization. 

Arnold  was  a  confirmed  dualist,  and  his  sermons 
are  full  of  allusions  to  the  eternal  struggle  between 
right  and  wrong,  and  of  devoted  prayers  for  the 
ultimate  triumph  of  Good.  Our  present  idea  that 
the  virtuous  boy  is  not  a  being  who  is  constantly 
controlling  his  evil  passions,  but  is  often  merely 
the  product  of  a  wholesome  environment  devoid 
alike  of  evil  passions  and  of  the  power  to  control 
them,  would  have  sounded  as  strange  to  the 
head  master  of  Rugby  as  religious  toleration  to  a 
Crusader. 

Unreal  and  dualistic  as  Arnold's  theories  may 
sound  to  some  of  us  to-day,  he  will  always  be 
respected  as  one  of  the  great  pioneers  of  education. 
He  saw  clearly  the  evils  of  his  school,  he  brought 
them  fearlessly  to  light,  and  he  battled  with  them 
bravely.  In  an  age  when  brutality  was  respected,  he 
fought  against  it,  and,  to  some  extent,  conquered  it, 
and  if  he  did  not  permanently  improve  the  morality 
of  our  schools,  he  showed  us  that  great  improve- 
ments were  necessary. 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  EDUCATION  11 

BOARDING  SCHOOLS  AND  DAY  SCHOOLS. — Many 
educational  authorities  contend  that  a  wholesome 
environment  will  never  be  properly  attained  in  the 
schools  for  the  directing  classes  until  we  substitute 
day  schools  for  the  present  large  boarding  establish- 
ments ;  but  in  discussing  the  comparative  value  of 
day  schools  and  boarding  schools,  we  must  remember 
that  we  are  dealing  with  a  question  which  strikes  at 
the  very  root  of  our  traditional  system  of  school 
education  in  England.  At  present  our  great  pre- 
paratory schools,  as  well  as  our  large  public  schools, 
are  situated  far  from  the  homes  of  their  pupils,  and 
if  the  English  nation  as  a  who]e  decides  to  adopt 
day  schools,  a  great  decentralization  of  our  educa- 
tional communities  will  have  to  take  place.  The 
nobility  and  rich  merchants  will  have  to  adapt  them- 
selves to  the  idea  that  there  is  more  than  one  school 
in  England  good  enough  for  their  sons,  and  that 
boys  chosen  geographically  are  as  wholesome  com- 
panions for  their  children  as  those  chosen  for 
pecuniary  or  social  reasons. 

The  Bishop  of  Hereford,  speaking  on  this  subject 
at  Croydon,  expressed  the  opinion  of  a  growing 
minority  of  educational  authorities,  when  he  said 
that,  while  recognizing  the  merits  of  the  English 
boarding  school,  he  thought  that  the  best  education 
for  a  boy  consisted  of  a  good  home,  combined  with 
daily  attendance  at  a  local  school,  well  organized  and 
of  high  tone,  and  that  he  considered  that  a  great 
deal  of  intellectual  and  moral  waste  took  place  in  the 
barrack  life  of  our  great  schools  to-day. 

There  are  many  who  agree  that  this  waste  of 
intellectual  and  moral  qualities  does  take  place  in 


12       THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

our  boarding  schools,  but  who  deny  that  the  remedy 
is  necessarily  their  abolition.  Others,  acknow- 
ledging the  fact  that  the  ideal  boarding  school  is 
superior  to  the  ideal  day  school,  contend  that  the 
evils  of  our  boarding  schools  are  so  entwined  in  the 
English  conception  of  what  a  boarding  school  ought 
to  be,  that  nothing  short  of  their  complete  abolition 
will  ever  stop  the  spread  of  moral  perversion. 

Allowing,  however,  that  the  atmosphere  of  our 
large  boarding  schools  can  be  greatly  improved,  they 
will  always  be  more  dangerous  establishments  than 
day  schools,  unless  their  influence  is  of  the  very 
best.  The  day  school  divides  the  responsibility  with 
the  parent,  and  has  only  a  share  in  forming  the 
character  of  the  adolescent.  If  the  tone  of  the 
day  school  is  corrupt,  the  boy  is  only  there  for  a 
portion  of  the  time,  and  the  contrast  with  his  home 
surroundings  may  lead  to  a  disgust  for  the  school 
atmosphere.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  environ- 
ment of  the  boarding  school  is  evil,  the  boy  is  under 
its  influence  for  twenty-four  hours  a  day,  and  since 
there  is  nothing  with  which  to  contrast  it,  he  is  far 
more  likely  to  be  absorbed  into  the  general  tone  of 
immorality. 

To  the  head  master  of  a  large  boarding  school  is 
entrusted  both  a  task  far  more  difficult,  and  at  the 
same  time  far  more  important,  than  the  task  of  the 
master  at  a  day  school.  It  is  more  difficult  because 
adolescents  of  one  sex  herded  together  within  narrow 
bounds  and  with  few  outside  interests  are  peculiarly 
liable  to  moral  perversion,  and  it  is  more  important 
because  the  atmosphere  of  the  boarding  school  is  the 
whole  world  in  which  the  adolescent  lives.  At  the 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  EDUCATION  13 

day  school  the  master  need  not  supply  the  constant 
change  of  pursuit  which  youth  demands,  since  the 
sane  and  healthy  interests  of  the  outside  world  are 
brought  daily  into  the  life  of  the  school. 

If  our  decision  is  in  favour  of  boarding  schools 
for  adolescents,  let  it  be  only  in  favour  of  those 
where  the  closest  inspection  is  at  all  times  invited 
and  encouraged ;  we  must  be  sure  that  evenings 
spent  at  school  with  little  to  do  are  really  healthier 
than  evenings  spent  at  home  with  much  to  occupy 
and  interest  the  attention.  Head  masters  of  pre- 
paratory schools  often  discourage  parents'  visits  for 
more  reasons  than  those  of  personal  convenience,  and 
it  would  be  well  for  many  parents  to  consider 
whether  the  formal  visits  which  they  pay  occasion- 
ally to  their  boys'  school  are  anything  more  than 
a  mere  mockery  of  school  inspection. 

Those  who  decide  that  the  development  of  all  that 
is  best  in  the  adolescent  is  obtained  by  the  combined 
influence  of  home  life  and  a  good  day  school  must 
surely  find  some  pleasure  in  being  able  to  know  by 
sight  the  men  who  are  taking  constant  charge  of 
their  children.  There  are  already  some  more  thought- 
ful parents  who  are  revolting  against  the  present 
custom  of  placing  their  boys  and  girls  at  the  critical 
age  of  adolescence  under  the  complete  care  of 
strangers. 

Whatever  kind  of  school  we  prefer  we  must  never 
forget  that  the  adult  is  to  a  great  extent  the  result 
of  adolescent  training,  and  that  the  bad  as  well  as 
the  good  of  adult  life  must  be  traced  to  the  school. 
When  society  is  corrupt,  when  its  members  are 
degenerate  and  weak,  we  must  look  at  the  school  life 


14       THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

of  its  citizens  if  we  wish  to  probe  the  evil  to  its 
source.  By  a  closer  study  of  school  life,  fearless, 
sincere,  and  scientific,  we  may  find  the  answer  to 
many  difficult  social  problems  which  baiEe  us  to-day. 

THE  UNSUITABLE  PREPARATION  FOR  AFTER-LIFE 
WHICH  OUR  WEALTHIER  CLASSES  EECEIVE. — Mr. 
Holmes  has  shown  us  how  dull  and  unimaginative  is 
the  education  at  our  compulsory  schools,  yet  the 
preparation  is  not  always  unsuitable  to  the  dreary 
routine  which  is  still  the  lot  of  many  of  our  working 
classes.  The  daily  walk  to  the  elementary  school 
has  its  close  parallel  in  the  daily  journey  to  the  shop 
or  factory,  and  the  regular  routine  of  the  one  is  in 
many  respects  a  good  preparation  for  the  other.  If 
we  look  carefully  at  the  resemblance  between  our 
Government  schools  and  our  large  workshops,  we 
shall  find  that  the  school  adapts  the  child  in  many 
ways  to  the  future  life  which  he  is  destined  to  lead. 

But  among  the  directing  and  wealthier  classes  the 
case  is  different :  to  these  we  look  for  initiative 
ability,  originality,  imagination,  and  wide  sympathies, 
and  the  expensive  and  prolonged  education  they 
receive  does  little  to  develop  these  qualities.  The 
environment  of  our  boarding  schools  is  not  one 
which  encourages  the  qualities  most  necessary  for 
our  governing  classes  to-day.  The  large  preparatory 
and  public  schools  in  England  have  few  points  in 
common  with  the  free  and  potent  life  which  will  be 
the  future  of  most  of  the  boys,  and  unless  we 
believe  that  a  training  under  one  set  of  conditions 
adapts  boys  to  a  life  which  is  to  be  led  under  totally 
different  circumstances,  we  shall  find  much  to  blame 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  EDUCATION  15 

and  little  to  praise  in  the  life  of  most  of  our  large 
boarding  schools. 

At  the  time  of  their  foundation  the  public  schools 
may  have  had  many  things  in  common  with  the 
medieval  life  of  the  adult,  but  their  general  atmos- 
phere must  have  become  crystallized  soon  after 
their  foundation,  for  little  of  the  healthy  activity 
of  the  outside  world  invades  the  large  boarding 
schools  to-day.  The  conditions  of  life  have  altered 
so  materially  in  the  last  few  hundred  years  that 
an  environment  which  may  have  developed  the 
adolescent  of  the  sixteenth  century  for  the  life  he 
was  to  lead  is  at  present  far  worse  than  useless. 

In  the  Middle  Ages  the  professions  of  women  were 
widely  different  from  those  of  men ;  the  daily  life  of 
the  men  was  to  a  great  extent  spent  apart  from  the 
women.  The  school,  therefore,  contained  members 
of  one  sex  only,  and  this  helped  rather  than  hindered 
in  the  preparation  for  adult  life.  To-day  in  almost 
every  profession  the  man  and  woman  work  side  by 
side,  and  if  in  certain  professions  women  are  not  the 
equal  of  men  they  are  his  constant  companions  as 
typists  and  shorthand  clerks.  Our  preparatory 
and  public  schools,  apparently  under  the  impression 
that  medieval  conditions  still  exist,  train  our  adoles- 
cents to  associate  with  one  sex  only,  and  make  no 
effort  whatever  to  prepare  them  to  mix  with  women 
on  the  intimate  yet  sane  terms  which  will  afterwards 
be  necessary. 

The  large  preparatory  schools,  although  of  com- 
paratively recent  origin,  copy  closely  much  of  the 
senile  decay  which  is  at  the  root  of  our  public  school 
system.  The  head  master  of  the  preparatory  school 


16       THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

realizes  that  many  of  his  boys  will  pass  on  to  public 
schools,  and,  remembering  their  rules  and  forgetting 
their  liberty,  copies  much  of  their  evil  and  little  of 
their  good.  The  life  at  the  preparatory  school, 
being  even  more  confined  and  narrow  than  at  the 
public  school,  the  dangers  of  moral  perversion 
amongst  the  boys  is  greatly  accentuated. 

The  wide  and  independent  life  of  our  wealthier 
classes  is  as  ignored  at  the  preparatory  school  as  at 
the  public  school,  and  the  unhealthy  life  of  the 
public  school,  due  so  often  to  lack  of  liberty  and  of 
engrossing  interests,  is  copied  with  painful  exactness 
by  the  preparatory  schoolmasters  throughout  the 
country.  The  saying,  that  by  liberty  alone  can  the 
right  use  of  liberty  be  taught,  is  forgotten  in  our 
large  preparatory  schools.  Constant  supervision  and 
close  confinement  are  felt  to  be  necessary  to  keep 
the  adolescent  from  those  very  evils  which  the 
system  of  supervision  and  confinement  is  daily 
manufacturing.  Among  adults  in  all  countries 
liberty  of  action  and  toleration  of  thought  are  mani- 
festing themselves  in  no  uncertain  way,  and  if  our 
schools  are  to  create  adolescents  suited  to  their 
future  environment  they  also  must  acknowledge 
these  principles  in  their  daily  life. 

The  necessity  for  an  education  which  fits  the 
adolescent  of  every  class  for  his  future,  was  strongly 
emphasized  by  Mr.  Birrell  when,  speaking  at  Liver 
pool,  he  expressed  the  hope  that  in  future  there 
would  be  less  red  tape,  more  genuine  attempts 
to  create  for  the  children  in  every  district  that 
kind  of  education  which  best  suited  them  for 
their  after-life,  and  less  desire  to  force  the  same 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  EDUCATION  17 

code  of  lessons  in  every  part  of  the  country,  arid 
upon  every  class  of  the  community. 

Although  Mr.  Birrell  wisely  lamented  the  ten- 
dency to  press  a  fixed  code  of  education  upon  the 
various  classes  of  the  community,  he  failed  to  lay 
stress  on  the  fact  that  the  evils  of  a  rigid  code  were 
pressing  even  more  heavily  on  the  upper  classes  than 
on  the  lower ;  he  failed  to  realize  that  the  very  class 
for  whom  an  elasticity  of  education  is  most  neces- 
sary are  to-day  the  chief  victims  of  a  narrow  and 
antiquated  system.  If  imagination  and  breadth 
of  thought  is  needed  among  the  working  classes, 
surely  it  is  even  more  necessary  among  the  govern- 
ing classes,  whose  greater  wealth  and  wider  possi- 
bilities endow  them  with  far  greater  power  for 
good  or  evil. 

THE  SOCIAL  EEVOLUTION  OF  TO-DAY. — The 
result  of  the  inflexible  and  unimaginative  education 
which  is  the  lot  of  so  many  of  our  upper  classes 
to-day  is  seen  in  the  slow  but  continuous  social 
revolution  which  is  so  marked  a  feature  of  our 
times. 

In  a  democratic  country  those  who  have  had  a 
broad  education,  tempered  by  a  knowledge  of  home 
life  and  of  the  world  as  it  really  exists,  rise  quickly 
into  the  ranks  of  the  governing  classes,  although 
often  poorly  endowed  with  hereditary  gifts  ;  those, 
on  the  other  hand,  who,  though  highly  fortunate  in 
their  parentage,  have  received  an  education  which 
has  failed  to  produce  that  sympathy  and  true  under- 
standing that  a  democracy  requires  of  its  rulers  sink 
slowly  but  very  surely  into  the  governed  class. 

2 


18       THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

The  reasons  for  the  inflexibility  of  the  education 
of  the  upper  classes  are  not  far  to  seek  if  we  con- 
sider the  minds  of  the  parents  and  teachers  who 
directly  or  indirectly  regulate  the  education  of  these 
classes. 

Conceit  of  their  own  education  leads  both  parents 
and  teachers  to  suppose  that  a  training  which  pro- 
duced such  excellent  men  as  themselves  must  be 
good  enough  for  their  children ;  they  have  no  kindly 
Government  authority  to  tell  them  that  this  is  a 
delusion,  and  they  forget  that  even  if  their  own 
education  was  a  perfect  preparation  for  the  life  they 
were  to  lead,  the  same  education  cannot  be  perfect 
for  their  children  who  are  about  to  enter  a  changed 
and  ever- changing  environment. 

The  poor  man  wishes  his  son  to  obtain  a  better 
training  than  himself,  to  rise  above  him  in  social 
position,  and  to  be  a  better  man  than  his  father. 
He  therefore  seeks  for  the  latest  and  most  useful 
educational  system  that  he  can  find.  The  rich  man, 
perfectly  satisfied  with  his  education,  desires  his 
son  to  receive  an  education  exactly  similar  ;  he  seeks, 
therefore,  either  his  own  old  school,  or,  at  all  events, 
some  school  that  has  remained  stationary  in  its 
methods  for  at  least  one  generation. 

The  stagnation  of  much  of  our  upper  class  educa- 
tion is  also  greatly  due  to  the  economic  dependence 
of  the  teacher  on  the  parent.  In  many  of  our  large 
schools  for  the  richer  classes  the  desire  of  the  head 
master  is  too  often  to  please  the  parent,  and  too 
seldom  to  do  what  is  really  best  for  the  boy.  His 
very  livelihood  depends  on  the  parent's  approval, 
and  his  innate  conservatism  is  strengthened  by  the 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  EDUCATION  19 

knowledge  that  any  change  in  his  system  of  educa- 
tion might  imperil  his  very  existence.  The  parent 
holding  the  purse-strings  fis  often  entirely  ignorant 
of  the  most  elementary  principles  of  adolescent 
education  and  development,  and  since  he  observes 
that  the  head  master  does  not  change  his  methods, 
takes  this  as  a  sign  that  no  improvement  is  neces- 
sary. We  frequently  see  the  parent  and  school- 
master helplessly  leaning  on  one  another,  preferring 
to  pursue  the  well-worn  path,  with  all  its  evils,  than 
run  any  risk  of  losing  each  other's  support  by  the 
slightest  progressive  change. 

In  the  Government  schools  the  teachers  depend 
on  the  State,  and  not  on  the  parent,  for  their  salary. 
The  child  is  educated  according  to  the  latest 
principles,  and  the  parent,  if  he  objects  to  them, 
must  choose  another  school.  Both  the  schoolmasters 
and  the  parents  are  in  a  state  of  independence,  and 
progress  is  comparatively  easy. 

The  inelasticity  of  the  education  of  the  upper 
classes  is  too  often  concealed  by  its  universality ; 
the  rise  of  the  working  and  middle  classes  is  either 
ignored  or  ascribed  to  the  introduction  of  free  educa- 
tion. To  attribute  the  rise  of  the  governed  classes 
to  the  inferiority  of  our  more  expensive  schools 
would  be  an  idea  that  few  of  our  governing  classes 
would  entertain ;  they  seem  to  have  forgotten  that 
when  free  education  was  given  to  the  working 
classes  the  directing  or  more  wealthy  members  of 
the  community  had  either  to  devise  an  education 
superior  to  the  minimum  bestowed  by  the  State,  or 
else  be  content,  sooner  or  later,  to  sink  into  a  position 
of  inferiority. 


20       THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

THE  INFLUENCE  OF  KINDRED  SCIENCES  ON  EDUCA- 
TIONAL QUESTIONS. — Although  many  treatises  on 
sociology,  physiology,  and  psychology  are  to  be 
found  in  the  ancient  writings  of  Greece  and  Rome, 
we  seem  to-day  to  be  little  nearer  their  practical 
application  to  the  daily  life  and  education  of  the 
adolescent.  We  are  very  apt  to  treat  the  problems 
of  education  as  if  they  had  little  or  no  connection 
with  such  kindred  sciences  as  physiology,  psychology, 
and  mental  pathology. 

In  education  as  in  many  other  sociological  ques- 
tions, abstract  ideas  have  acted  too  often  as  a  cloak 
and  too  seldom  as  a  genuine  expression  of  our 
personal  feelings,  and  much  has  been  hidden  under 
a  national  tradition,  a  moral  platitude  or  a  religious 
creed.  A  nation's  greatness  has  been  too  often 
judged  by  its  geographical  area,  and  patriotism  has 
been  too  often  measured  in  terms  of  personal  or 
national  greed.  The  psychology  of  war  has  been 
treated  in  an  insincere  and  superficial  manner  ;  we 
have  been  content  to  read  of  the  patriotism  of  our 
army  and  of  a  great  military  victory,  and  have  been 
almost  cynically  indifferent  to  the  bestial  ferocity 
and  passionate  excesses  which  are  the  other  side 
of  the  picture. 

In  education  more  than  in  any  other  social  science, 
a  change  of  attitude  has  become  necessary,  and  it  is 
a  healthy  sign  that  in  all  questions  which  affect  the 
nation's  welfare  we  are  beginning  to  take  an  interest 
in  the  real  character  of  each  individual,  and  to 
brush  impatiently  aside  that  conventional  mask  of 
virtue,  wisdom,  and  patriotism  upon  which  many 
have  for  so  long  been  content  to  look. 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  EDUCATION  21 

Parents  are  shewing  an  increasing  tendency  to 
deal  with  the  education,  even  of  their  own  children, 
in  a  more  critical  and  analytical  way  than  has  been 
their  custom  in  the  past.  We  shall  soon  be  no  longer 
satisfied  with  the  complacent  smile  of  the  head  master 
who  points  to  the  school  chapel  and  white  robed  choir 
as  a  proof  of  the  school's  virtue  ;  the  chapel  and  large 
class  rooms  will  not  be  the  parts  of  the  building 
which  we  shall  be  most  interested  in,  nor  shall  we 
expect  to  find  in  them  the  characteristics  of  the 
school.  The  formal  inspection  of  the  school,  accom- 
panied by  the  head  master,  is  already  beginning  to 
be  dispensed  with  as  a  useless  waste  of  time.  We 
have  ceased  to  be  interested  in  the  tasks  which  the 
head  master  makes  his  boys  do,  for  we  have  realized 
that  by  sufficiently  breaking  a  boy's  will  he  can  be 
made  automatically  obedient. 

Schoolmasters  have  in  the  past  found  it  easy  to 
train  boys  to  play  cricket  and  to  win  scholarships, 
and  they  have  had  little  difficulty  in  persuading 
parents  that  these  are  the  signs  of  a  noble  person- 
ality. This  task  will  be  harder  in  the  future.  The 
development  of  all  that  is  best  in  the  adolescent  will 
not  be  as  easy  as  the  teaching  of  cricket  or  even 
classics.  As  our  appreciation  of  the  potentiality  of 
the  boy  and  girl  during  adolescence  increases,  our 
schoolmasters  will  have  a  more  varied  and  more 
subtle  task  to  accomplish.  By  personal  care  and 
individual  attention  the  best  in  each  adolescent 
will  have  to  be  searched  for  and  developed,  and  the 
rule  of  thumb  education  which  exists  at  present  will 
be  merely  a  relic  of  an  unenlightened  age. 

The    schoolmaster   of  the   future   will   have   no 


22       THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

theatrical  results  to  present  to  the  parent,  for  none 
will  be  expected  ;  parents  will  no  longer  look  for  the 
fireworks  of  athleticism  and  scholarships.  Ado- 
lescence will  be  a  time  for  development  and  not 
for  results,  and  as  the  boy  gradually  shows  his 
individual  capabilities,  the  parent's  pleasure  will 
far  surpass  any  temporary  pride  in  athletic  victory 
or  scholastic  success.  The  school  will  prepare  not 
for  an  examination  which  lasts  a  few  hours  or  a  few 
days,  but  for  those  greater  examinations  which  can 
only  take  place  when  the  adolescent  grows  into  the 
man  or  woman. 

THE  NECESSITY  FOR  A  SYNTHETIC  VIEW  OF 
EDUCATION. — It  is  important  for  the  student  of 
adolescence,  be  he  psychologist,  physiologist,  sociolo- 
gist, pathologist,  or  schoolmaster,  to  stand  apart 
from  the  temporary  needs  of  one  science,  or  of  one 
school  or  University,  and  to  take  a  synthetic  and 
many-sided  view  of  the  development  of  the  indi- 
vidual. Our  view  of  education  is  too  often  confined 
to  a  few  years  in  the  life  of  the  individual  or  to  the 
light  which  one  particular  science  throws  on  adoles- 
cent development.  There  is  no  law  of  nature  that 
adolescent  development  should  be  judged  by  success 
in  scholarship  at  fourteen,  eighteen,  or  twenty- two, 
and  if  our  educational  system  is  to  train  our  children 
in  a  synthetic  and  connected  way,  we  must  cease  to 
consider  it  in  terms  of  short  periods  only.  The  pro- 
ficient adolescent  must  no  longer  delight  us ;  our 
aim  must  be  the  efficient  adult. 

The  student  of  education,  and  of  adolescent  educa- 
tion in  particular,  must  have  no  professional  out- 


MODERN  VIEWS  AND  ANCIENT  DOGMAS         23 

look  ;  like  a  medical  man  he  should  have  studied 
physiology,  but  his  opinions  on  adolescent  develop- 
ment must  not  be  founded  solely  on  those  considera- 
tions ;  like  a  mental  specialist  he  should  have 
considerable  knowledge  of  psychology  and  of  mental 
pathology,  but  it  should  be  tempered  by  many  other 
studies  ;  like  a  clergyman  he  should  have  considered 
carefully  the  effects  of  ethical  training  on  the  ado- 
lescent boy,  but  his  mind  should  be  free  from  the 
chains  of  dogma. 

Among  professional  men,  as  well  as  among  educa- 
tionists, over  -  specialization  has  been  one  of  the 
chief  retarding  factors  in  the  real  development  of 
true  civilization.  The  lawyer  who  studies  minutely 
every  matter  in  connection  with  the  law  except  the 
criminal  is  in  very  much  the  same  position  as  the 
schoolmaster  who  knows  almost  everything  concern- 
ing education  excepting  the  facts  of  adolescent 
development.  America  and  Italy  should  not  be 
the  only  countries  to  recognize  these  anomalies.  It 
has  been  often  said  that  the  Judge  orders  a  sentence 
to  be  carried  out  which  he  would  not  have  the 
courage  to  execute  himself,  and  if  civilization  is  to 
be  so  specialized,  and  the  functions  of  each  individual 
so  minute  that  co-operative  action  becomes  nobody's 
action,  then  civilization  will  be  a  curse  and  not 
a  blessing  to  future  generations.  The  want  of 
sympathetic  realization  and  interchange  of  thought 
between  even  the  more  enlightened  members  of  the 
active  and  passive  professions  of  life  is  well  illus- 
trated by  the  statement  made  by  a  famous  General 
to  his  boy  scouts  that  "  Science  is  the  study  of  little 
things  that  you  cannot  see." 


24       THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

The  first  duty  of  the  educationist  is  to  respect 
all  sciences  and  appreciate  the  value  of  all  pro- 
fessions ;  if  he  fails  in  this,  he  cannot  possibly  see 
the  capabilities  latent  in  his  pupils.  The  school- 
master should  study  carefully  the  comparative  value 
of  the  various  callings  in  life,  and  in  the  complicated 
mosaic  of  civilized  life  never  allow  one  profession 
to  stand  so  high  that  it  casts  a  shadow  on  its 
neighbour. 

Sir  Francis  Galton,  in  his  unprejudiced  treatment 
of  ability  in  "Hereditary  Genius/'  has  been  one  of 
the  first  in  England  to  show  us  the  importance  of 
treating  man's  various  activities  from  an  external 
standpoint.  The  lack  of  such  scientists  seems,  how- 
ever, to  point  more  and  more  to  the  need  of  adolescent 
training  in  sociology  and  the  social  aspects  of  psy- 
chology and  physiology.  Such  study  would  develop 
wide-minded  and  sympathetic  citizens  and  would 
enable  boys  and  girls  to  obtain  a  clearer  insight 
into  the  moral  and  social  value  of  the  various  pro- 
fessions and  occupations  before  choosing  their  own 
careers  in  life. 

When  legislation  lags  behind  popular  opinion,  the 
sociological  student  would  be  able  to  suggest  laws 
adequately  expressing  the  new  ideals  of  civilization  ; 
and  when,  as  often  happens  in  the  United  States, 
noble  laws  are  but  the  screen  for  corrupt  practices, 
the  sociologist  might  check  the  hypocritical  legisla- 
tion of  politicians  until  personal  morality  had  ap- 
proximated more  closely  to  legislative  ideals. 
Legislation  might  then  bear  a  closer  resemblance 
to  the  people's  real  desires,  and  not  be  the  expression 
of  mere  outward  morality. 


MODERN  VIEWS  AND  ANCIENT  DOGMAS        25 

The  professional  man,  lacking  both  a  broad  socio- 
logical training  and  ignorant  of  any  facts  of  adoles- 
cence except  his  own  personal  experiences,  constantly 
seeks  advice  in  regard  to  his  son's  education.  He 
desires  a  synthetic  outlook  both  on  education  and  on 
life  which  he  knows  he  cannot  obtain  himself.  He 
consults  a  clergyman,  a  lawyer,  or  a  doctor,  well 
realizing  the  narrow  view  he  is  obtaining,  but 
unable  to  find  any  unbiassed  man  who  has  given  up 
his  life  to  the  scientific,  as  well  as  the  practical, 
study  of  education.  In  America  Professor  Stanley 
Hall  has  supplied  a  demand  which  in  that 
country  has  long  been  felt ;  in  his  book  on  adoles- 
cence he  ignores  the  point  of  view  of  no  professional 
man,  but  shows  clearly  its  exact  position  in  the  vast 
science  of  the  education  of  the  adolescent.  The 
true  answers  to  questions  concerning  the  training  of 
boys  and  girls  can  only  be  given  by  such  unbiassed 
and  scientific  men  as  Stanley  Hall. 

I  have  heard  some  schoolmasters  say  that  practice 
has  taught  them  all  the  knowledge  that  they  require 
in  training  the  adolescent,  and  that  books  on  the 
science  of  the  question  are  valueless  to  them.  The 
second  part  of  the  statement  is  probably  true  ;  the 
first  part  is  an  attitude  we  should  tolerate  in  no 
profession  but  that  of  a  schoolmaster.  Head  masters 
are  slowly  beginning  to  realize  that  education  is 
an  art  as  well  as  a  craft,  and  they  are  beginning 
to  lose  confidence  in  themselves,  which  is  a  sure  sign 
of  future  progress.  The  preparatory  schoolmaster's 
library  is  still  a  disgrace  to  a  man  who  undertakes 
one  of  the  most  difficult  and  important  functions  in 
the  community,  but  even  he  is  at  last  awakening 


26       THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

to  the  fact  that  proficiency  in  Greek,  Latin,  or  foot- 
ball does  not  compensate  for  a  want  of  know- 
ledge in  the  facts  and  theories  of  adolescent 
training. 

By  an  increased  contact  with  the  outside  world 
many  schoolmasters  are  already  learning  a  great 
deal  about  their  own  profession.  After  consulta- 
tion with  authorities  on  education  outside  the  school, 
many  head  masters  have  changed  some  of  their  most 
fundamental  rules,  while  others  have  returned  to 
their  labours  with  an  increased  conviction  that  their 
former  methods  were  right.  Whether  teachers  change 
their  opinions  or  whether  they  are  merely  enabled  to 
act  consciously  and  with  greater  certainty  where 
before  they  have  acted  vaguely  and  unscientifically, 
it  is  certain  that  they  have  not  wasted  their  time  in 
consulting  the  thoughts  of  the  great  world  outside, 
for  which  they  are  preparing  their  pupils. 

Parents  and  schoolmasters  are  at  last  realizing 
that  strong  individuality,  a  desire  for  self-expression, 
and  perverted  morality  are  subjects  more  subtle  and 
complex  than  they  at  first  supposed.  And  although 
the  study  of  such  matters  is  probably  more  difficult 
than  anything  else  in  the  world,  a  few  clear  land- 
marks are  becoming  visible  in  the  distance,  and  if 
we  fix  these  in  our  minds  uncertain  analysis  and 
vague  generalizations  will  slowly  fade  away  and  great 
educational  progress  will  be  made. 

THE  ADULT  AND  THE  ADOLESCENT  MIND. — One 
of  the  first  steps  in  the  study  of  adolescence  is 
to  realize  the  state  of  mind  of  the  boy  towards 
the  surroundings  in  which  he  is  placed.  To  the 


MODERN  VIEWS  AND  ANCIENT  DOGMAS         27 

adult  the  actions  of  the  adolescent  may  seem  un- 
reasonable, but  they  are  often  so  in  appearance  only  ; 
on  looking  more  closely  we  almost  invariably  discover 
that  they  are  the  perfectly  logical  and  reasonable 
actions  of  a  mind  with  small  experience  and  little 
knowledge.  It  is  the  man's  powers  of  comprehension, 
not  the  adolescent's  powers  of  reason,  that  are  usually 
at  fault.  Let  the  adult  for  a  moment  consider  what 
events  in  life  he  terms  vulgar,  beautiful,  coarse,  or 
beneficent,  and  he  will  realize  that  he  uses  these 
adjectives,  not  from  any  innate  sense  of  their  appro- 
priateness, but  merely  from  a  collection  of  experiences 
which  he  has  gathered  from  his  life.  It  would  indeed 
be  extraordinary  and  unreasonable  if  the  child  or 
adolescent  attached  meanings  to  words  and  actions 
that  experience  alone  can  give. 

Although  brought  up  under  similar  circumstances, 
adults  often  differ  from  each  other  in  the  meanings 
they  attach  to  religion,  morality,  vice,  or  virtue. 
If  we  obtain  a  clear  insight  into  the  differences  of 
thought,  even  among  adults,  we  shall  realize  the 
futility  of  judging  adolescent  actions  and  youthful 
immoralities  in  terms  of  our  adult  conceptions.  If 
we  wish  to  have  any  real  intimacy  with  youth,  we 
must  first  understand  the  language  of  the  market 
place,  remembering  always  that  it  is  perfectly  rational 
as  far  as  it  goes,  and  differs  only  in  simplicity  from 
our  own. 

When  we  have  stated  that  the  adolescent  differs 
from  the  adult  in  experience  and  complexity  of 
feeling,  we  have  summed  up  the  only  essential 
difference  between  the  two.  In  knowledge  the  mind 
of  the  adolescent  must  be  inferior  to  that  of  the  adult ; 


28       THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

in  emotional  energy  it  is  the  same.  The  emotions 
of  the  adolescent  are  the  emotions  of  the  adult, 
simplified  certainly,  exaggerated  perhaps,  but  never- 
theless as  acute,  as  painful,  and  as  over-master- 
ing. The  tragedy  of  adolescence  is  the  failure  of  the 
adult  to  realize  this.  Love,  hope,  fear,  pity,  shame, 
may  be  evoked  by  different  circumstances  in  the 
adolescent  and  in  the  adult,  but  that  is  no  reason 
for  withholding  the  respect  and  sympathy  which 
all  civilized  beings  owe  to  one  another. 

The  love  of  secret  occupations,  the  desire  for 
excitement,  the  craving  for  independent  investigation 
and  the  boredom  arising  from  the  ideas  of  others  are 
as  common  among  adolescents  as  among  adults,  and, 
although  we  are  ready  to  sympathize  with  these 
feelings  when  they  arise  later  on  in  life,  we  have 
seldom  the  same  pity  when  they  occur  with  equal 
acuteness  during  adolescence.  It  is  surely  as  painful 
to  be  bored  by  others,  to  be  unreasonably  restrained, 
to  be  in  moral  difficulties,  when  young  as  in  later 
life  ;  and  if  philosophy  is  undeveloped  and  experience 
slight,  surely  there  is  only  a  greater  need  for  sympathy 
and  understanding. 

During  adolescence  the  craving  for  knowledge 
and  the  desire  for  self-realization  is  often  stronger 
than  at  any  other  period,  yet  during  adolescence  we 
allow  so  little  expression  of  what  is  within  that  we 
are  apt  to  consider  the  period  a  time  of  lethargy. 
When  once  we  grasp  the  fact  that,  expressed  or 
hidden,  our  feelings  at  fourteen  or  fifteen  are  often 
stronger  and  not  weaker  than  in  after-life,  that 
experience  and  learning  widens  but  does  not  deepen 
our  emotions,  then  I  think  our  learned  professors 


MODERN  VIEWS  AND  ANCIENT  DOGMAS         29 

and  experienced  schoolmasters  may  be  able  to  feel  with 
and  not /or  the  pupils  who  are  under  their  charge. 

From  this  appreciation  of  the  mind  of  the  adolescent 
educational  improvements  will  arise.  If  we  once 
realize  the  importance  and  the  glory  of  the  secret 
occupations  of  the  "  Lantern  Bearers,"  we  shall  see 
more  clearly  that  the  duty  of  the  teacher  is  to  give 
opportunities,  not  to  dictate  actions — that  no  one 
will  ever  be  able  to  instil  from  without  what  must 
necessarily  come  from  within.  Experience  the  adoles- 
cent may  lack  :  the  wish  to  gain  it  needs  little  en- 
couragement. If  we  once  understand  the  importance 
of  giving  our  boys  and  girls  opportunity  of  gaining 
the  experience  they  desire  rather  than  of  learning  the 
facts  we  think  good  for  them,  we  shall  find  that  the 
vast  amount  of  adolescent  immorality  due  to  stifled 
energy  will  pass  away,  and  our  boys  and  girls  from 
the  beginning  of  their  life  will  be  in  the  best  sense 
of  the  word  people  of  experience. 

THE  TRUE  BELATION  BETWEEN  PHYSIOLOGICAL 
AND  PSYCHOLOGICAL  STUDIES. — It  has  long  been  the 
custom  among  writers  on  education  to  pretend  that 
the  life  of  the  adolescent  consists  of  periods  of 
mental  and  bodily  development  alternating  with 
each  other  and  taking  place  respectively  in  the 
classroom  and  the  playing-field.  It  is  only  com- 
paratively lately  that  our  educational  authorities 
seem  to  have  realized  that  what  they  are  pleased  to 
call  mental  development  takes  place  as  actively  in 
the  playground  as  in  the  schoolroom,  and  -that 
bodily  or  physiological  development  does  not  remain 
stationary  whilst  mental  gymnastics  are  proceeding. 


30       THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

The  whole  question  of  mental  and  bodily  develop- 
ment has  been  involved  in  an  absurd  and  unreal 
dualism  from  which  we  are  only  just  beginning  to 
escape.  The  ridiculous  battle  between  the  spiritual- 
ists and  the  materialists  seems  to  be  still  raging 
in  spite  of  Professor  Romanes'  gallant  attempt  to 
show  its  futility,  and  like  two  men  for  ever  quarrel- 
ling as  to  whether  an  apple  is  red  or  round,  the 
spiritualist  and  materialist  stop  the  progress  of  the 
world  by  their  blind  contentions.  If  every  phe- 
nomenon can  be  explained  in  terms  of  psychology 
and  physiology,  this  is  surely  no  reason  for  denying 
the  existence  of  mind  or  body.  The  waste  of  in- 
tellectual effort  involved  in  either  denial  must  be 
obvious  to  all  sane  observers. 

If  we  are  to  study  education  in  any  scientific 
sense,  we  must  dismiss  this  dualism  from  our  mind, 
consider  the  boy  or  girl  as  a  developing  entity,  and 
treat  the  questions  of  psychological  and  physiological 
development  purely  as  different  coloured  spectacles 
through  which  at  times  it  is  convenient  to  look.  We 
must  not  be  led  away  by  an  endless  and  unprofitable 
attempt  on  the  part  of  dualists  to  prove  that  the 
colour  of  the  world  is  regulated  by  the  tint  of  their 
own  spectacles  ;  for  if  we  embark  on  this  controversy 
between  spiritualists  and  materialists  we  shall  have 
little  time  or  energy  for  the  proper  study  of  any 
real  facts  of  adolescence. 

When  I  speak,  therefore,  of  mental  or  physical 
development,  I  am  not  speaking  of  a  portion  of 
adolescent  growth,  I  am  speaking  of  the  boy  or  girl's 
whole  development  viewed  in  a  certain  aspect.  If 
we  look  through  the  physiologist's  spectacles,  every 


MODERN  VIEWS  AND  ANCIENT  DOGMAS         31 

moment  of  life  can  be  viewed  in  terms  of  physical 
change,  while  the  whole  of  adolescence  presents 
equally  continuous  development  if  we  choose  to  wear 
the  eyeglasses  of  the  psychologist.  No  greater  mis- 
take has  ever  been  made  than  the  idea  prevalent 
among  many  head  masters  that  mental  develop- 
ment ceases  when  school  time  is  over,  and  that 
purely  bodily  development  takes  place  in  the 
playing-field  or  drill-ground. 

Many  books  have  lately  been  written  on  the  effect 
of  mind  on  body  and  body  on  mind  ;  but  though  they 
prove  at  considerable  length  the  parallelism  which 
undoubtedly  exists  between  the  mental  and  physical 
aspects  of  life,  they  leave  the  real  question  of  cause 
and  effect  completely  untouched.  Their  failure  is 
simple  to  explain,  since  their  task  was  an  obviously 
impossible  one.  Every  thought,  every  feeling  or 
emotion  which  the  psychologist  produced  as  a 
cause,  the  physiologist  immediately  turned  into 
a  purely  material  or  chemical  action  involving  merely 
a  movement  of  matter.  Nor  did  the  psychologist 
alone  suffer  defeat  for,  as  soon  as  the  physiologist 
produced  a  material  cause  for  a  mental  phenomenon, 
the  former  immediately  refused  to  admit  that  the 
cause  was  other  than  purely  psychological. 

It  is  obvious,  therefore,  that  for  the  present  we 
must  treat  the  old  saying,  that  a  healthy  mind  exists 
in  a  healthy  body,  as  the  mere  statement  of  a  rather 
obvious  parallelism.  The  colour  of  a  sunset  delights 
the  eyes  alike  of  the  poet  and  of  the  athlete,  and  it 
would  be  difficult  to  explain  any  causal  relation 
between  their  artistic  delight  and  their  physio- 
logical condition.  A  parallelism  undoubtedly  exists, 


32       THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

but  in  studying  the  questions  of  rnind  and  body 
the  nature  of  it  presents  many  difficulties.  The 
comparative  soundness  of  the  bodies  of  some  mental 
degenerates,  and  the  beautiful  thoughts  of  many 
invalids,  are  facts  that  must  show  us  that  our  know- 
ledge even  of  this  parallelism  is  still  incomplete. 

MONISM  AND  DUALISM  IN  FATIGUE. — In  questions 
ol  fatigue  during  adolescence,  it  is  essential  to 
realize  that  the  difference  between  mental  and  bodily 
fatigue  exist  subjectively  in  the  mind  of  the  school 
teacher,  and  are  not  separate  objective  phenomena  of 
the  tired  adolescent.  The  misleading  dualism  which 
attempts  to  divide  fatigue  of  mind  objectively  from 
fatigue  of  body  has  even  led  to  the  absurd  sugges- 
tion that  exercise  of  the  one  alleviates  the  exhaustion 
of  the  other,  and  we  find  deeply  rooted  in  our  educa- 
tional theories  the  amazing  fallacy  that  bodily 
exercise  rests  the  tired  mind. 

We  observe  that  a  brisk  walk  refreshes  us  after 
mental  work,  and  we  immediately  jump  to  the  con- 
clusion that  bodily  exercise  refreshes  the  mind.  It 
is  not  until  we  have  learnt  the  accurate  and  sub- 
jective use  of  the  words  "  mind  "  and  "  body  "  that 
we  realize  that  it  is  the  mental  change  accompanying 
the  bodily  exercise  that  has  refreshed  our  mind  in 
our  daily  walk. 

There  are  schoolmasters  who  still  maintain  that 
the  boy  is  only  physically  tired  by  his  cricket  or 
football,  and  that  mentally  he  is  as  fit  for  work  as  if 
he  had  undergone  no  exertion.  Their  position  is 
this  :  they  don  their  physiological  spectacles,  and 
they  observe  through  them  that  the  boy  is  fatigued  ; 


MODERN  VIEWS  AND  ANCIENT  DOGMAS         33 

he  obviously  needs  repose,  and  it  is  clear  that  he 
should  not  continue  his  exercise.  But  with  this  the 
dualist  is  not  content ;  he  discovers  that  he  has  a 
psychological  pair  of  spectacles  through  which  he 
cannot  observe  the  fatigue  he  noticed  before.  ;The 
idea  therefore  strikes  him  that  the  boy  may  well 
continue  to  exert  himself  if  the  effort  is  invisible 
through  his  psychological  glasses,  and  if  he  takes 
care  not  to  change  his  spectacles  nor  apply  any 
physiological  test,  the  boy  will  appear  no  longer 
to  need  the  repose  which  at  first  sight  seemed  so 
necessary. 

No  one  who  has  read  Professor  Mosso's  accounts 
of  his  recent  discoveries  can  doubt  that  this  attitude 
towards  fatigue  is  absurd.  Whether  we  call  the 
fatigue  mental  or  bodily,  rest  and  not  continued 
exercise  is  the  cure ;  slight  mental  fatigue  may  be 
cured  by  a  change  of  thought,  slight  bodily  fatigue 
by  a  change  of  action,  but  beyond  this  we  cannot  go. 
Fatigue  is  much  deeper  in  human  personality  than 
those  who  attempt  to  divide  mental  from  bodily 
fatigue  objectively  will  ever  realize. 

THE  DUALISM  OF  MIND  AND  BODY  IN  ETHICS.  - 
A  curious  ethical  dualism  which  suggests  a  vicious 
body  at  war  with  a  virtuous  spirit  has  for  many 
centuries  played  a  conspicuous  part  in  religious 
education.  The  body  and  mind  are  presumably  at 
war  in  a  sphere  which  is  neither  material  nor 
spiritual,  for  if  we  suppose  the  scene  of  battle  to  be 
the  one  or  the  other,  one  of  the  combatants  is 
immediately  excluded.  Possibly  the  body  was  sup- 
posed to  enter  the  spiritual  plain,  or  the  spirit  to 

3 


34       THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

descend  and  fight  in  the  material  world,  but  what- 
ever the  meaning  of  this  legendary  warfare,  it  is 
obvious  that  it  presupposes  a  constant  state  of  con- 
flict in  the  human  individual. 

Among  temperance  reformers,  as  well  as  among 
schoolmasters,  we  find  strong  supporters  of  this 
form  of  dualism,  and  both  are  imbued  with  the  idea 
that  the  temperate  or  moral  individual  is  per- 
petually fighting  evil  temptations.  Although  so 
many  acknowledge  that  there  exist  people  who 
have  no  temptations  to  evil  or  excess,  yet  the 
majority  of  these  reformers  think  that  they  are 
extremely  rare,  and  that  virtue  is  almost  entirely 
a  question  of  self-control. 

In  his  studies  of  Heredity  and  Alcoholism, 
Dr.  Archdall  Reid  has  gone  deeply  into  the  matter 
of  the  supposed  civil  war,  but  I  think  few  have 
appreciated  to  the  full  the  depth  and  truth  of  his 
arguments.  The  temptation  to  drink  is  so  easily 
explained  by  a  lustful  and  greedy  body  fighting 
a  restraining  and  virtuous  mind  that  we  forget 
that  what  we  call  moral  repentance  is  often  satiety, 
and  we  are  quite  satisfied  with  the  dualistic  picture 
which  the  temperance  reformers  have  so  gravely 
and  so  graphically  described. 

The  schoolmaster,  like  the  temperance  reformer, 
usually  draws  the  same  distinction  between  the 
evil  cravings  of  the  body  and  the  controlling  power 
of  the  mind,  and  although  in  this  particular  case 
the  temptation  is  rather  to  immorality  than  to 
alcohol,  the  picture  of  civil  war  is  drawn  with  equal 
ease  and  with  equal  conviction. 

In  discussing  this  dualism  I  do  not  for  a  moment 


MODERN  VIEWS  AND  ANCIENT  DOGMAS         35 

deny  the  fact  that  the  adolescent  sometimes  con- 
siders the  advisability  of  two  alternate  courses ; 
such  periods  of  mental  indecision  must  occur  in 
the  life  of  every  individual,  but  they  are  not  periods 
to  be  encouraged.  Moral  vacillation  is  not  whole- 
some during  adolescence,  and  it  is  far  better  in  most 
cases  for  the  adolescent  to  do  wrong  and  profit  by 
experience  than  hesitatingly  to  debate  on  the 
morality  of  his  act.  A  house  divided  against  itself 
cannot  stand,  especially  when,  as  during  adoles- 
cence, it  is  but  half  complete. 

To  anyone  who  is  not  wholly  given  over  to 
dualistic  doctrine  it  must  be  evident  that  the 
morally  healthy  boy  is  not  perpetually  conquering 
temptations  ;  his  mind  is  active  in  other  directions, 
and  he  would  be  the  first  to  laugh  at  the  master 
who  praised  his  self-control.  The  success  of  the 
schoolmaster  and  temperance  reformer  alike  lies  not 
in  the  removal  of  the  temptation,  nor  in  the  strength 
of  the  individual  to  fight  it,  but  in  a  wholesome  and 
interesting  environment,  and  in  an  active  mind  filled 
with  absorbing  occupations  freely  chosen  and  freely 
pursued. 

It  is  the  opinion  of  many  great  mental  specialists 
that  even  if  schoolmasters  were  able  to  create  the 
mental  civil  war  which  they  consider  such  a  good 
cure  for  youthful  temptations,  the  result  of  the 
internal  strife  would  be  often  worse  than  the  evils 
against  which  the  adolescent  is  asked  to  struggle. 
Fortunately,  our  moralists  bring  their  theories  of 
self-control  only  half-heartedly  into  practice,  and 
frequently  seem  to  suspect  that  mental  distrac- 
tion and  absorbing  pursuits  are  the  only  real  cures 


36        THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

for  mental  perversion.     Like  Mephistopheles,  they 
will  the  evil  and  achieve  the  good. 

MONISM  AND  DUALISM  IN  EUGENICS. — Even  our 
most  modern  science,  eugenics,  has  been  invaded  by 
dualistic  ideas,  and  there  are  already  those  eugenists 
who  affirm  that  inherited  characteristics  alone  govern 
our  lives,  and  those  who  believe  that  we  are  shaped 
only  by  our  environment.  The  statement  of  both 
parties  is  as  absurd  as  the  belief  of  those  meta- 
physicians who  deny  the  transmission  of  thought, 
forgetting  that  the  proposition  itself  expresses  a  belief 
in  the  existence  of  what  it  denies.  The  whole  theory 
of  eugenics  being  based  on  the  interaction  of  hereditary 
and  environmental  forces,  the  conception  of  either 
developing  without  the  other  is  an  obvious  absurdity. 
We  may  perchance  choose  to  consider  that  in  certain 
cases  the  forces  of  heredity  or  of  environment  have 
predominated,  but  we  must  not  forget  that  the 
actions  of  environmental  forces  can  only  exist  when 
hereditary  characteristics  are  attuned  to  receive 
their  influence.  The  phenomena  which  we  observe 
in  individuals  should  be  regarded  more  as  the 
sympathetic  actions  of  environment  and  heredity 
combined,  than  of  any  particular  force  situated 
predominantly  in  either. 

There  is  no  more  striking  change  of  thought  taking 
place  to-day  than  the  revolution  of  our  ideas  on 
individual  responsibility.  The  pity  for  the  criminal, 
which  was  so  characteristic  of  last  century,  has  given 
place  to  a  more  scientific  study,  and  we  are  showing 
an  increasing  elasticity  in  the  punishments  we  mete 
out  to  the  offender.  We  are  realizing  that  a  criminal 


MODERN  VIEWS  AND  ANCIENT  DOGMAS         37 

may  be  the  result  of  a  bad  environment  on  a  weak 
character  or  of  innate  viciousness  which  the  best 
environment  would  fail  to  suppress,  and  in  both 
cases  we  are  beginning  to  question  the  amount  of 
moral  responsibility.  In  a  more  civilized  generation 
than  ours  we  shall  have  law  courts  in  which  the 
responsibility  of  the  individual  is  measured  with 
a  greater  subtlety  than  at  present.  Even  to-day 
schoolmasters  and  jurists  admit  that  there  are 
circumstances  of  parentage  and  environment  over 
which  the  individual  is  powerless  in  the  hand  of  fate. 
Already  we  see  the  spiteful  avenger  and  the  pitying 
sentimentalist  giving  place  to  the  rational  reformer, 
and  both  in  schools  and  law  courts  there  is  a  growing 
tendency  to  treat  crime  and  perversion  as  admirable 
energy  sadly  misdirected. 

MONISM  AND  DUALISM  IN  EMOTION  AND  INTELLECT. 
— Many  writers  on  adolescence  appear  to  ignore 
the  relation  between  emotion  and  intellect,  and  to 
consider  them  antithetical  and  mutually  exclusive 
phenomena.  The  personal  energy  and  desire  for 
self-expression  from  which  they  both  spring  is  often 
passed  over  as  if  they  were  irrelevant  and  un- 
important. 

Everyone  possesses  a  certain  personal  energy  which 
is  intimately  connected  with  the  desire  for  self- 
realization,  and  which,  profitably  or  unprofitably, 
must  daily  be  consumed.  This  force  may  be  con- 
sumed slowly  or  suddenly,  but  the  amount  possessed 
by  each  individual  must  be  utilized  for  good  or  evil. 
A  man  such  as  Darwin,  gifted  with  a  very  consider- 
able latent  energy,  and  a  strong  desire  for  slow 


38       THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

self-realization,  gave  vent  to  his  craving  for  self- 
assertion  by  the  slow  and  deliberate  writing  of 
intellectual  works.  He  may,  it  is  true,  have  had 
periods  of  laughter  which  caused  a  rapid  evaporation 
of  his  mental  energy,  but  these  were  not  the  normal 
outlets  for  his  immense  desire  for  self-expression. 
Another  type  of  humanity  may  be  endowed  with 
equal  mental  energy  and  a  strong  desire  for  ex- 
pression, but  perhaps  from  youth  or  temperament 
may  require  sudden  and  rapid  outlets  for  its  feelings. 
If  an  idea  has  been  conceived,  expression  usually 
takes  place  before  such  individuals  start  afresh  on 
new  fields  of  self-realization.  The  emotional  man 
must  realize  himself  quickly,  but  the  fact  does  not 
rob  his  self-expression  of  intellectual  value ;  it 
merely  marks  the  time  between  the  desire  for  self- 
assertion  and  its  realization.  A  laugh,  a  quick 
retort,  a  tear  may  be  sudden  and  emotional,  but 
they  differ  only  in  degree  from  intellectual  self- 
expression. 

The  adolescent  shows  his  power  and  his  desire  for 
self-realization  far  more  frequently  by  emotional 
expression  than  by  the  more  prolonged  modes  of 
intellectual  assertion,  and  he  would  indeed  be 
abnormal  if  this  were  not  so.  The  false  separation 
of  the  two  must  not  blind  us  to  the  importance  of 
adolescent  energy  of  character  and  the  encouragement 
of  its  development,  even  if  its  only  display  is  in  the 
realm  of  what  we  call  emotion.  We  must  ever  bear 
in  mind  that,  however  much  the  expression  of  self 
by  emotion  may  differ  from  the  slower  modes  of 
self-assertion,  both  arise  from  the  craving  for  self- 
realization.  Emotion  and  intellect  are  only  words 


MODERN  VIEWS  AND  ANCIENT  DOGMAS         39 

by  which  we  express  the  force  of  those  desires  for 
self-development  and  self-expression  which  sometimes 
feebly,  sometimes  strongly,  often  for  good  and 
occasionally  for  evil,  exist  in  every  individual,  and 
are  at  the  root  of  all  the  activity  and  progress  of  the 
world. 

THE  INDIVIDUAL  AS  A  SIGN  OF  THE  SOCIETY. — 
In  boarding  schools,  as  in  the  large  world  outside, 
there  are  times  when  certain  boys  and  girls  appear 
to  be  far  in  advance  of  their  fellows  in  vice  or  virtue, 
in  cleverness  or  stupidity,  and  there  is  often  grave 
danger  of  such  adolescents  being  treated  as  the 
abnormal  creations  of  some  external  power,  and  not 
as  signs  of  the  community  in  which  they  exist. 

In  the  question  of  adult  ability,  Mr.  Spiller  has 
convincingly  shown  us,  in  "  The  Mind  of  Man,"  how 
such  a  genius  as  Shakespeare  was  essentially  a  pro- 
duct of  his  brilliant  age,  and  not  a  solitary  gifted 
individual  who  grew  up  independent  of  the  environ- 
ment in  which  he  lived. 

In  school  life  the  influence  of  the  individual  boy 
on  the  school  community  has  been  made  a  question 
for  considerable  study.  The  influence  of  the  school 
in  the  creation  of  the  genius  or  the  moral  pervert 
has  been  comparatively  ignored.  As  soon  as  our 
schoolmasters  turn  from  the  suppression  of  effects  to 
the  study  of  causes,  they  will  become  increasingly 
aware  that  cases  of  vice  and  virtue  are  not  so  isolated 
as  appearances  might  at  first  suggest ;  their  disfavour 
may  turn  from  the  individual  immorality  of  certain 
boys  to  the  unwholesome  atmosphere  of  which  they 
are  observing  the  victims.  In  the  future  both  Judge 


40       THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

and  schoolmaster  will  realize  more  fully  that  every 
crime  in  society  and  every  case  of  perversion  in  the 
school  is  an  indictment  of  the  environment  as  well 
as  of  the  offender,  and  the  conditions  that  foster 
crime  and  perversion  will  receive  even  more  attention 
than  the  criminal.  To-day  few  seem  to  realize  that, 
when  a  few  weeds  have  been  plucked  from  the  school 
or  from  the  general  community,  the  conditions  that 
foster  their  growth  are  often  left  unchanged. 


CHAPTER  II 

ADULT   INFLUENCE    ON    ADOLESCENCE 

The  responsibility  of  the  adult — Parents — Head  masters — 
Under  masters. 

THE  RESPONSIBILITY  OF  THE  ADULT. — There  are 
few  questions  in  the  education  of  our  adolescents 
which  require  a  shrewder  or  a  more  scientific  know- 
ledge than  the  choice  of  the  men  and  women  under 
whose  care  our  boys  and  girls  are  to  spend  the  most 
important  period  of  their  lives.  There  is  probably  no 
vital  question  in  education  in  which  direct  responsi- 
bility is  more  shirked,  or  in  which  decisions  are  arrived 
at  in  a  less  scientific  and  more  unreasonable  way. 
The  parents  naturally  know  nothing  about  education  ; 
the  father  and  mother  have  both  been  educated 
without  being  told  what  education  really  means, 
why  it  exists,  and  what  it  is  supposed  to  do. 
Adults  of  last  century  would  have  found  it  difficult 
to  instruct  their  children  in  the  reasonableness  of  an 
unreasonable  system,  and  therefore,  perhaps  wisely, 
remained  silent. 

The  parent  of  to-day  has  a  vague,  and,  as  far  as  it 
goes,  really  genuine,  anxiety  about  his  boy's  mental 
and  bodily  development  during  adolescence ;  he 
realizes  that  at  this  period  the  future  is  made  or 

41 


42       THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

marred,  and  he  has  a  half-conscious  feeling  that  he 
ought  to  know  more  about  adolescent  training  than 
he  does.  The  man  of  thirty  or  forty  does  not, 
however,  desire  to  embark  on  a  science  which  has 
had  no  place  in  his  own  youthful  training,  and 
instead  of  attempting  to  attain  a  knowledge  of 
the  elements  of  adolescent  training,  he  hands  his 
children  over  to  the  care  of  those  who  have,  he  tries 
to  think,  a  better  knowledge  than  himself. 

At  about  nine  the  boy  of  the  wealthier  classes 
goes  to  the  large  preparatory  boarding  school ;  he  is 
nominally  given  over  to  the  care  of  the  head  master- 
he  is  really  under  the  charge  of  the  staff  of  assis- 
tants. Parents  usually  know  the  head  master  by 
sight,  and  have  probably  seen  him  at  least  once  at 
tea-time  before  they  entrust  their  boy  to  his  care. 
The  under  master  the  parents  seldom  know  even 
by  sight ;  he  is  certainly  never  introduced  to  them, 
nor  under  the  present  system  is  he  ever  likely 
to  be. 

The  staff  of  the  preparatory  school  are  generally 
hard-working,  and  sometimes  even  keen  at  their 
work,  but  head  master  and  under  masters  alike 
suffer  from  the  strange  delusion  that  a  proficiency 
in  the  classics  which  they  teach  the  boys  is  more 
important  than  a  knowledge  of  the  complicated 
science  of  adolescent  development.  The  physiological 
and  psychological  side  of  sexual  emotion  during 
adolescence  is  considered  either  too  disgusting  or  too 
interesting  to  be  calmly  studied,  and  the  total 
absence  of  scientific  knowledge  on  this  subject  causes 
a  schoolmaster's  experience  to  be  in  many  respects 
worse  than  useless.  The  phenomena  of  sexual  feel  * 


ADULT  INFLUENCE  ON  ADOLESCENCE  43 

ings  and  moral  perversion  are  only  half  realized,  and 
their  cause  is  entirely  ignored. 

The  majority  of  parents  and  schoolmasters  among 
the  richer  classes  at  present  so  arrange  the 
teaching  of  boys  and  girls  under  their  charge  that 
the  adolescent  learns  the  most  important  truths  in 
the  woYld  from  the  worst  possible  companions  ;  this 
fact  is  probably  one  of  the  most  noticeable  blemishes 
in  our  twentieth- century  education.  I  will  go  more 
thoroughly  into  the  subject  in  the  two  following 
chapters,  but  in  dealing  with  the  question  of  adult 
responsibility  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  the 
greater  prevalency  of  sexual  immorality  among 
richer  classes  may  be  largely  attributed  to  the  con- 
spiracy of  silence  which  is  far  easier  among  the 
wealthier  citizens  than  in  the  more  crowded  por- 
tions of  our  population. 

PARENTS. — Parents  represent  such  a  large  part 
of  the  population  of  the  country  that  few  generaliza- 
tions are  possible.  If  we  consider  the  amount  of 
interest  taken  in  their  children  by  the  upper  and 
lower  classes  respectively  we  shall  probably  come  to 
the  conclusion  that  in  both  classes  it  is  equally 
small,  and  that  both  classes  are  equally  desirous  to 
salve  their  conscience  by  attempting  to  depute  their 
responsibility  to  someone  else. 

The  amount  of  time  and  energy  that  parents  are 
willing  to  devote  to  the  serious  consideration  of  their 
children's  education  is  small,  and  depends  to  a  great 
extent  on  the  amount  of  professional  duties  necessary 
or  desirable  for  the  up-keep  of  the  finances  of  the 
home.  The  fathers  and  mothers  of  the  leisured 


44       THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

classes  are  already  taking  a  considerable  interest  in 
the  science  of  education,  but  money- making  mono- 
polizes so  much  of  the  time  of  both  rich  and  poor 
that  by  far  the  majority  of  parents  neglect  entirely 
the  science  of  adolescent  growth. 

The  State  can  carry  out  the  theories  of  parents, 
and  can  employ  suitable  teachers  to  educate  its 
children  ;  but  since  the  State  is  itself  merely  a  collec- 
tion of  individuals,  it  can  never  take  the  place  of  the 
individual  in  the  consideration  of  educational  matters. 
It  is  one  thing  for  parents  to  send  their  children  to  a 
school  where  experts  carry  out  their  theories,  but  it 
is  a  different  thing  for  parents  to  entrust  their 
children  to  the  care  of  a  man,  the  soundness  of 
whose  theories  they  have  not  for  a  moment  con- 
sidered. If  educational  improvements  are  to  come, 
they  must  come  from  the  growing  knowledge  and 
|  interest  of  parents,  not  from  State  experts  or  solitary 
reformers.  There  is  little  doubt  that  a  study  of 
adolescence  and  of  education,  however  small,  would 
enable  parents  to  direct  what  interest  they  have  in 
their  child  into  a  far  more  useful  and  beneficial 
channel  than  they  do  at  present.  If  a  man  has 
enough  time  to  read  his  daily  paper,  he  surely  has 
enough  time  to  consider  a  few  of  the  vital  points  of 
his  son's  or  daughter's  education  and  development, 
and  it  is  to-day  rather  a  lack  of  early  education 
than  any  want  of  time  or  interest  that  keeps  parents 
from  these  studies. 

Parents  will  never  take  more  than  a  languid  and 
superficial  interest  in  schools  and  schoolmasters  until 
a  generation  grows  up  who  have  been  taught  when 
they  were  young  the  science  of  human  development 


ADULT  INFLUENCE  ON  ADOLESCENCE  45 

and  the  evolution  of  the  individual  as  a  live  and 
interesting  science. 

HEAD  MASTERS. — The  head  masters  of  our  large 
preparatory  schools  have  the  care  of  boys  during 
what  is  the  most  critical  and  important  period  of 
adolescence  ;  their  knowledge  of  classics  and  athletics 
is  considerable  ;  their  experience  of  boys  is  sometimes 
great,  but  there  are  few  people  more  ignorant  or 
more  disdainful  of  the  deeper  aspects  of  the  science  of 
adolescent  training.  Too  often  they  consider  their 
school  a  stage  to  strut  upon,  and  too  seldom  a  place 
in  which  they  should  think  and  learn.  They  pursue 
immorality  and  vice,  when  they  discover  it,  with  the 
enthusiasm  of  a  prophet,  but  with  the  incompetence 
of  a  child. 

The  head  master  is  often  a  clergyman,  and  though 
probably  when  young  as  rational  as  any  of  his  pupils, 
has  decided  that  rationalism,  though  dear  to  the 
heart  of  his  boys,  is  dangerous  in  his  school.  If  he 
had  ever  considered  seriously  the  theories  of  such  a 
man  as  Herbert  Spencer,  he  would  think  them 
impracticable,  unsound,  and  full  of  danger  ;  and  at  the 
back  of  his  mind  is  generally  a  vague  fear  that,  if  his 
boys  start  reasoning  about  the  advisability  of  virtue, 
they  will  immediately  embark  on  a  life  of  vice. 

It  is  usual  for  a  head  master,  after  he  has  occupied 
the  position  for  a  few  years,  to  coin  some  high- 
sounding  and  vague  phrase,  such  as  "All  old 
Bravonians  are  gentlemen ;  see  that  you  keep  up 
the  school's  reputation."  Originally  the  head  master 
intends  that  this  sentence  should  have  some  meaning, 
but  he  soon  discovers  that  the  parents  who  listen  to 


46       THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

his  school  addresses  have  very  different  views  on  what 
the  word  "  gentleman  "  really  means,  and  he  begins  to 
lose  faith  in  the  word,  even  while  he  uses  it.  The 
parents'  wishes  must  be  obeyed,  and  yet  the  sentence 
sounds  so  well,  and  causes  him  so  much  pleasure,  that 
the  head  master  cannot  part  with  it ;  he  therefore 
decides,  in  deference  to  the  parents'  wishes,  to 
sacrifice  the  meaning,  but  for  his  own  satisfaction 
to  keep  the  words  of  his  school  motto. 

The  word  "  gentleman  "  having  been  robbed  of  any 
definable  meaning,  he  adapts  the  school  maxim  not 
only  to  the  parents'  wishes,  but  to  the  various 
troublesome  delinquencies  of  his  pupils.  For  his  own 
convenience  he  classes  the  acts  and  feelings  of  his 
pupils,  often  regardless  of  the  circumstances  in  which 
they  occur,  as  "  gentlemanly  "  or  "  ungentlemanly," 
and  fit  or  unfit  for  an  old  Bravonian.  In  enthusi- 
astic sermons  and  school  speeches  he  dives  deeper 
and  deeper  into  a  hopeless  abyss  of  confused  thought. 
He  tells  his  boys  that  people  whom  the  world 
considers  gentlemen  are  not  really  gentlemen  at  all ; 
that  gentlemen  often  act  in  a  most  ungentlemanly 
way  ;  and  that  people  who  act  in  an  ungentlemanly 
way  are  not  really  gentlemen. 

The  boys  of  twelve  to  fourteen,  who  are  not  lulled 
to  sleep  by  the  master's  sermons,  smile  indulgently 
at  his  sophistries,  and  realize  as  well  as  the  preacher 
himself  that  the  nature  of  any  act  depends  on  its 
circumstances,  and  that  the  verbiage  which  is  being 
used  has  no  real  reference  to  any  of  the  vital 
questions  which  occur  in  daily  life.  Many  of  the 
acts  which  they  are  told  are  ungentlemanly  they 
recognize  as  the  failure  to  show  blind  and  implicit 


ADULT  INFLUENCE  ON  ADOLESCENCE          47 

obedience  to  orders  in  which  they  see  no  reason,  and 
something  deeply  rooted  in  each  of  their  boyish 
minds  whispers  continually  that  self-assertion,  even 
if  temporarily  perverted,  contains  something  noble 
and  praiseworthy. 

In  dealing  with  the  abstract  questions  of  right  and 
wrong,  the  head  master  fails  to  understand,  or  chooses 
to  ignore,  the  warm  glow  which  the  word  "  wicked  "  or 
"  evil"  leaves  in  the  heart  of  every  spirited  adolescent, 
whose  desire  for  self-expression  is  only  strengthened 
by  opposition ;  he  fails  to  realize  that  the  ignominy 
which  a  boy  feels  when  he  is  called  silly  or  stupid  is 
the  wholesomest  weapon  of  the  moral  reformer.  If 
head  masters  would  decide  to  use  the  words  "  clever  " 
or  "  stupid  "  whenever  they  were  tempted  to  talk  of 
virtue  and  vice,  they  would  find  they  had  entered  on 
an  almost  magical  road  to  moral  teaching,  and  they 
would  have  little  need  of  that  enervating  automatic 
obedience  which  they  now  call  discipline. 

Philosophers  may  argue  to  the  end  of  time  about 
the  relation  of  cleverness  to  morality.  Some  may  say 
that  immorality  is  only  a  want  of  knowledge,  others 
that  there  is  a  cleverness  antithetical  to  true  religion. 
But  however  different  may  be  their  conclusions,  there 
is  little  doubt  that  the  best  type  of  schoolboy  does 
not  mind  being  wicked,  but  does  object  to  being 
called  stupid.  For  a  spirited  boy  ridicule  and  pity 
is  more  dreaded  than  any  thought  of  punishment 
either  in  this  world  or  in  any  other. 

Until  head  masters  throw  off  their  transparent 
disguise  of  omnipotent  knowledge,  and  come  amongst 
their  pupils  as  reasonable  fellow-mortals,  they  will 
never  obtain  that  real  respect  which  most  of  them 


48       THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

are  already  striving  for.  Only  when  the  head 
master  discards  this  cloak  of  superiority,  which 
deceives  himself  more  often  than  his  pupils,  will  he 
obtain  that  respect  untouched  by  scepticism  or  fear 
which  most  boys  feel  towards  their  older  friends  at 
home. 

It  is  natural  that  the  adolescent  mistrusts  those 
who  enforce  blind  obedience,  and  respects  those 
who  give  the  reasons  for  their  commands.  No  real 
intimacy  can  ever  exist  between  those  who  command 
and  those  who  obey  unless  they  are  joined  together 
by  a  common  cause,  or  by  a  mutual  trust  in  the 
reasonableness  of  each  other's  wishes.  The  adoles- 
cent searches  for  reasons  and  causes  even  more 
keenly  than  the  adult,  and  by  satisfying  this  a  head 
master  will  get  respect  and  devotion  which  he  can 
obtain  in  no  other  way. 

To-day  parents  sometimes  have  more  time  to 
acquire  the  theoretical  knowledge  of  education  than 
head  masters  of  preparatory  schools,  and  while  trying 
to  retain  the  respect  of  the  parents  by  conservative 
methods,  the  head  master  is  often  only  arousing 
their  wonder  and  contempt.  Head  masters  of  both 
public  and  preparatory  schools  will  have  to  devote 
a  considerable  time  to  the  scientific  study  of  adoles- 
cence, if  they  are  to  satisfy  the  needs  of  a  small  but 
growing  class  of  well-educated  and  critical  parents. 

UNDER  MASTERS. — Although  in  a  large  boarding 
school  the  influence  of  the  under  master  is  usually 
far  more  important  than  that  of  the  head  master,  he 
is  little  spoken  of,  and  certainly  never  studied,  by 
parents.  The  head  master  of  the  large  preparatory 


ADULT  INFLUENCE  ON  ADOLESCENCE  49 

school  has  many  tricks  by  which  he  prevents  the 
parents  of  his  pupils  from  seeing  the  under  masters 
who  have  charge  of  their  boys ;  rightly  or  wrongly 
he  fears  the  critical  advice  of  parents,  and  their 
intrusion  into  the  life  of  his  school. 

One  of  the  most  striking  facts  in  most  of  our 
large  boys'  schools  is  that  the  under  masters  who 
spend  all  their  days  in  company  with  their  pupils 
often  have  only  the  most  superficial  influence  on 
them,  and  wholesome  friendships  are  rare.  Many 
things  have  altered  since  Arnold  was  at  Rugby, 
but  the  lack  of  intimacy  which  he  so  deeply  de- 
plored still  exists  to-day.  The  reasons  are  two- 
fold. Firstly,  under  masters  are  not  chosen  for 
their  knowledge  of  adolescence,  and  it  is  impos- 
sible for  them  to  be  intimate  with  persons  whom 
they  do  not  thoroughly  understand.  Secondly, 
head  masters  realizing  that  they  have  not  chosen 
their  under  masters  from  persons  who  are  suitable 
companions  for  adolescents,  try  their  best  to 
prevent  any  direct  influences  between  master  and 
boys. 

The  fear  of  mutual  friendship  and  intercourse 
between  under  masters  and  boys  is  often  almost 
a  mania  with  head  masters,  and  they  build  up  many 
artificial  barriers  from  the  fear  of  those  evils  which 
by  their  choice  of  masters  they  have  themselves 
made  possible.  If  a  head  master  chooses  his 
assistants  solely  for  their  knowledge  of  classics  or 
athletics,  it  is  natural  that  -he  hesitates  to  allow 
their  close  friendships  with  his  boys ;  his  mode  of 
selection  has  given  him  little  guide  as  to  whether 
his  under  masters  are  suitable  companions  for 

4 


50       THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

adolescents.  It  is  not  always  from  slackness  that 
a  head  master  is  guided  by  a  University  degree  or 
prowess  at  games  in  his  selection  ;  he  often  suffers 
from  a  complete  incapacity  to  realize  that  both  of 
these  admirable  characteristics  have  little  to  do 
with  the  wholesome  and  open  nature  which  all  who 
deal  with  adolescents  should  possess. 

Having  started  with  the  idea  that  all  his  under 
masters  must  be  men  with  degrees  or  good  at  sport, 
we  find  several  other  prejudices  in  the  mind  of  the 
head  master.  Two  are  often  particularly  noticeable 
— under  masters  must  not  be  men  of  .private  means, 
and  no  under  master  must  be  married. 

To  any  scientific  student  of  adolescent  develop- 
ment these  two  prejudices  seem  very  strange.  To 
an  unbiassed  mind  it  is  obvious  that  the  man  with 
private  means  has  very  probably  become  a  school- 
master because  he  liked  teaching  boys,  and  is,  there- 
fore, a  more  useful  individual  to  have  in  a  school 
than  the  man,  often  a  failure  in  another  profession, 
who  is  driven  to  teaching  as  a  last  resource. 
But  the  average  head  master  seldom  stops  to  con- 
sider whether  his  future  assistant  has  entered  the 
scholastic  profession  from  choice  or  from  force  of 
circumstances  ;  he  is  blinded  to  the  many  advan- 
tages of  the  man  of  means  by  many  petty  preju- 
dices. If  the  assistant  has  a  private  income,  he 
might  outdo  his  head  master  in  display  ;  he  might 
be  less  desirous  of  pleasing  his  employer  in  every 
detail,  and  might  show  an  independent  spirit  when 
reprimanded.  Against  such  disadvantages  as  these 
it  is  useless  to  suggest  that  the  man  of  independent 
means  might  often  have  a  wider  and  better  influence 


ADULT  INFLUENCE  ON  ADOLESCENCE          51 

on  his  pupils  than  the  master  who,  for  pecuniary 
reasons,  is  forced  to  obey  every  whim  of  his  em- 
ployer's wishes.  If  the  head  master  were  obliged  to 
present  his  assistants  to  the  critical  eye  of  the 
modern  parent,  he  would  choose  them  for  very 
different  reasons  from  those  which  guide  him  in 
his  selection  at  present. 

The  essential  of  celibacy  which  a  master  insists 
on  in  his  choice  of  under  masters  is  one  which  must 
be  condemned  unhesitatingly  by  psychologist  and 
physiologist,  and  in  fact  by  every  man  who  has 
thought  at  all  scientifically  on  educational  questions. 
It  will  be  a  great  day  in  the  improvement  of  our 
sons'  school  environment  when  head  masters  at  last 
awaken  to  the  fact  that  a  young  married  man,  pos- 
sibly with  children  of  his  own,  is  a  far  healthier  com- 
panion for  young  boys  than  the  celibate  master  who, 
for  various  reasons,  has  no  wife,  and  often  has  little 
friendly  intercourse  with  the  female  sex.  Sexual 
inversion  may  exist  in  both  the  married  and  un- 
married master,  but  there  is  little  doubt  that  the 
latter  has  less  normal  intercourse  with  women,  and 
is  therefore  more  liable  to  fall  a  victim  to  the 
dangerous  atmosphere  of  our  boarding  schools. 
There  are  many  comparatively  trivial  reasons  which 
influence  a  head  master  against  engaging  a  married 
assistant,  but  none  which  he  should  for  a  moment 
compare  with  the  undeniable  advantages  of  the 
married  man.  He  would,  indeed,  be  a  cynic  who 
would  suggest  that  the  straitened  circumstances 
of  the  married  under  master,  or  the  possibility  of 
quarrels  between  his  wife  and  the  head  master's, 
should  stand  in  the  way  of  the  proper  choice  of 


52       THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

wholesome  companions  for  boys  in  large  boarding 
schools.  Everyone  who  has  thought  on  the  question 
honestly  can  hardly  deny  that  the  friendship 
between  a  boy  and  a  young  married  master 
usually  differs  materially  from  the  friendship  be- 
tween a  boy  and  a  celibate  twice  his  age.  Denial 
of  this  difference  can  be  nothing  but  hypocritical, 
and  it  is  needless  here  to  multiply  examples  of  the 
evils  of  the  one  kind  of  friendship  and  the  whole- 
someness  of  the  other  ;  they  will  be  dealt  with  in 
a  later  chapter. 

To  exclude  masters  and  boys  entirely  from  mutual 
friendship  and  confidences  is  impossible,  and  when 
boys  are  deprived  of  the  intimacy  of  home  life  it  is 
most  inadvisable.  Already  a  few  head  masters  are 
beginning  to  realize  that  the  only  way  to  achieve  a 
thoroughly  healthy  tone  in  a  boarding  school  is 
to  choose  assistant  masters  for  scientific  reasons, 
and  having  chosen  men  with  the  best  possible  in- 
fluence and  with  real  knowledge  of  adolescent 
development,  to  allow  a  freer  intercourse  than  exists 
at  present. 

It  is  common  for  head  masters  to  complain  that 
the  class  from  which  they  are  forced  to  choose  their 
assistants  is  so  limited  that  it  is  impossible  to  select 
men  who,  with  reasonable  safety,  could  become  the 
intimate  companions  of  their  pupils.  But  the  limita- 
tions in  choice  are  often  of  the  head  master's  own 
making,  and  if  a  few  petty  prejudices  and  personal 
feelings  could  be  overcome,  they  would  have  a  far 
larger  class  of  men  from  which  to  select  their 
assistants.  Even  under  the  present  system,  in 
which  masters  are  chosen  for  entirely  unscientific 


ADULT  INFLUENCE  ON  ADOLESCENCE  53 

reasons,  it  is  doubtful  whether  a  greater  intimacy 
would  not  encourage  a  more  wholesome  environ- 
ment ;  the  present  attempts  to  restrain  all  personal 
friendships  between  masters  and  boys  prevents  a 
great  deal  of  good  and  healthy  intimacy,  while  the 
evil  intercourse  between  masters  and  boys  continues, 
unknown  and  unsuspected  in  the  shadows  of  the 
school  life.  No  very  great  change  can  come,  how- 
ever, until  head  masters  grasp  the  cravings  and 
requirements  of  adolescent  growth,  and  choose  their 
masters  for  the  healthy  tone  they  are  likely  to 
bring  into  the  school,  as  well  as  for  their  degrees  or 
athletics. 

At  present,  by  a  strict  network  of  discipline, 
the  adolescent  at  the  large  preparatory  school  is 
for  the  greater  part  of  the  year  deprived  of  real 
friendship  with  anyone  except  those  of  his  own  age 
and  sex.  There  is  also  little  intimacy  and  interchange 
of  thought  between  head  masters  and  their  assistants. 
All  who  have  had  experience  of  large  boarding 
schools  realize  how  much  veiled  fear  and  suspicion 
divides  the  head  master  from  his  assistants,  as  well 
as  how  little  real  understanding  and  sympathy  exists 
between  the  best  type  of  master  and  his  boys. 

In  the  more  advanced  schools,  of  which  we  already 
have  a  few  examples,  the  whole  atmosphere  will  be 
changed ;  the  head  master  will  constantly  discuss 
with  his  assistants  the  various  moral  questions  of 
adolescent  training  which  from  time  to  time  will 
arise ;  boys  will  be  allowed  more  personal  friend- 
ships with  their  teachers,  and  left  less  to  the  tepid 
influence  of  vague  ethical  sermons  ;  the  boarding 
school  will  cease  to  bear  that  close  resemblance  to  a 


54       THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

prison  which  it  has  at  present.  The  school  will  not 
be  a  place  where  youth  is  restrained,  but  where 
youth  is  rather  let  loose  ;  it  will  be  a  community  of 
people  of  all  ages  and  sexes  brought  together  for 
a  common  object,  and  maintained  in  close  unity  by 
personal  and  intimate  friendships.  But  the  first 
step  towards  such  a  school  is  to  realize  that  the 
adolescent  is  as  human  as  the  adult. 

The  task  of  the  head  master  in  such  a  school  will 
be  difficult,  his  responsibility  will  be  great ;  but  with 
a  staff  of  assistants  chosen  because  they  are  married 
and  for  their  knowledge  of  adolescence,  he  will  find 
much  of  his  responsibility  can  be  deputed  to  others. 
Much  of  the  vague  and  shadowy  responsibility 
which  he  feels  at  present  will  fade  away,  and  if  his 
school  is  a  large  one,  he  will  find  that  his  chief  duty 
is  to  discover  men  who  themselves  can  be  relied  on 
to  perform  the  task  of  developing  the  adolescent  as 
well  as  of  teaching  the  schoolboy. 

I  do  not  deny  that  to-day  there  is  much  character 
reading  between  head  masters  and  their  assistants, 
but  it  is  too  often  sly,  and  under  the  cover 
of  a  deceitful  frankness  ;  there  are  few  open  and 
straightforward  talks  between  those  who  are  re- 
sponsible for  the  moral  development  of  the  ado- 
lescent. The  intimacy  which  Arnold  so  strongly 
advocated  between  masters  and  boys  is  needed  at 
present  almost  as  much  between  head  masters  and 
their  assistants.  While  bodily  spying  is  often  held 
in  disgrace,  a  system  of  what  one  may  call  mental 
spying  seems  an  established  part  of  our  school  life. 
The  head  master  feels  no  shame  in  spying  into  the 
life  of  his  under  masters,  while  he  shuns  the  frank 


ADULT  INFLUENCE  ON  ADOLESCENCE  55 

intimacy  which  is  the  only  alternative.  Our  code 
of  behaviour  towards  the  adolescent  also  allows , 
a  system  of  almost  unlimited  spying,  and  until 
there  exists  a  greater  intimacy  and  knowledge 
both  of  the  facts  of  adolescence  and  of  the  life  of 
every  boy,  spying  will  remain  a  most  deplorable 
necessity. 

The  reluctance  of  many  competent  men  to  become 
schoolmasters,  both  in  preparatory  and  public  schools, 
is  largely  due  to  this  prevalent  system  of  spying, 
coupled  with  the  unreal  and  hypocritical  position  of 
superiority  which  the  present  system  of  blind 
obedience  and  forced  discipline  compels  a  master  to 
adopt.  If  assistant  masters  were  allowed  more 
latitude  and  intimacy  with  their  pupils,  and  the 
subjects  which  they  were  obliged  to  teach  were 
more  live  and  useful,  the  scholastic  profession  would 
occupy  a  far  higher  position  than  it  does  at  present ; 
its  members  would  be  respected  as  moulders  of  men, 
and  not  despised  as  mere  instillers  of  information. 
When  the  adult  can  look  back  on  his  school  life  as  a 
period  during  which  he  laid  the  foundations  of  all 
the  useful  knowledge  he  has  since  acquired,  and  not 
merely  as  a  period  of  quick  learning  and  quicker 
forgetting,  then  I  think  the  grown  man  will  regard 
the  scholastic  profession  with  less  contempt,  and 
will  be  less  loath  to  enter  what  should  be  the  most 
respected  calling  in  the  world. 


CHAPTER  III 

IMMORALITY   AND   SEXUAL   PERVERSION   IN   SCHOOLS 

General  reticence  on  sexual  pathology  in  school  life  —  The 
question  of  responsibility — The  cramping  environment  of 
our  boarding  schools  —  The  warnings  of  moralists  —  The 
phenomena  of  sexual  perversions. 

GENERAL  RETICENCE  ON  SEXUAL  PATHOLOGY  OF 
SCHOOL  LIFE. — The  present  chapter  and  the  one 
that  follows  are  usually  omitted  in  educational 
works.  The  pathological  symptoms  of  school  life 
are  alluded  to  by  such  words  as  "  immoral  conduct " 
and  "  bad  tone,"  words  so  vague  and  undefinable  that 
they  could  not  shock  the  most  prudish  reader  who 
ever  pretended  to  take  an  interest  in  education.  A 
work,  however,  which  seeks  to  suggest  cures,  must 
discuss  symptoms  in  less  general  terms,  and  any 
reader  who  does  not  wish  to  face  openly  the  evils 
that  exist  would  do  well  to  close  this  book  and  read 
no  further. 

From  a  scientific  point  of  view  a  work  on  educa- 
tion which  evades  or  ignores  the  graver  and  more 
prevalent  immoralities  of  school  life  is  strikingly  in- 
complete ;  it  is  like  a  treatise  on  the  liquor  trade 
which  ignores  intemperance  and  drunkenness.  But 
the  scientific  consideration  of  school  immorality  is 
hampered  by  the  fact  that  those  who  know  most 

56 


IMMORALITY  AND  SEXUAL  PERVERSION        57 

are  those  who  would  suffer  most  financial  loss  by  an 
unvarnished  revelation  of  the  truth.  It  is  only  by 
a  person  who  stands  in  an  economically  independent 
position  that  a  sincere  and  perfectly  truthful  inquiry 
can  be  made  into  the  immoralities  and  perversions  of 
our  large  schools. 

It  will  not  be  necessary  for  me  to  multiply 
individual  examples  of  the  exact  form  which  moral 
perversion  takes  in  our  boys'  and  girls'  schools  ;  the 
details  are  well  known  to  all  who  have  had  ex- 
perience of  large  boarding  schools,  and  have  been 
described  for  the  public  by  Mr.  Havelock  Ellis. 
It  is  their  general  phenomena  and  the  reasons 
for  their  existence  which  receive  little  serious 
consideration  and  on  which  I  will  endeavour  to  cast 
a  little  light. 

The  fact  that  sexual  immorality  exists  in  all 
schools  sometimes  and  in  some  schools  all  the  time, 
and  that  the  forms  it  takes  would  shame  some  of 
the  most  savage  tribes,  might  have  been  reasons 
serious  enough  to  warrant  careful  study  ;  but  our 
educational  writers  have  thought  otherwise.  Persons 
who  have  had  nothing  to  gain  pecuniarily  by  investi- 
gating these  subjects  have  left  them  carefully  alone, 
and  they  have  been  discussed  chiefly  by  those  who 
desire  to  make  a  livelihood  by  trading  on  the 
passions,  curiosity,  and  fears  of  weak  humanity. 

Among  parents  who  prided  themselves  on  their 
well-balanced  minds  a  study  of  immorality  has  in 
the  past  seemed  strangely  unnecessary.  The  splendid 
outward  appearance  of  our  large  schools  has  been 
quite  sufficient  to  blind  the  ordinary  parent  to  the 
more  serious  aspects  of  school  life,  and  the  head 


58       THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

master  who  could  show  prospective  parents  airy 
class-rooms  and  large  playing  fields  had  practically 
insured  the  financial  success  of  his  school. 

In  spite  of  their  fine  outward  appearance,  patho- 
logical symptoms  have  always  been  present  both  in 
our  preparatory  and  public  schools.  The  latter 
receive  more  public  attention,  but  the  danger  of 
moral  perversion  is,  if  anything,  greater  in  the  pre- 
paratory school.  From  thirteen  to  fourteen  is  one 
of  the  most  critical  periods  in  the  adolescent's 
development,  and  the  preparatory  school,  since  it 
contains  boys  whose  ages  approach,  and  just  include, 
the  critical  age,  is  probably  in  more  danger  than 
the  public  school  whose  less  responsible  members 
are  in  the  lower  and  not  in  the  higher  classes. 

THE  QUESTION  OF  EESPONSIBILITY. — In  dealing 
with  the  matter  of  responsibility  the  mind  of  the 
criminal  and  adolescent  delinquent  are  so  much 
alike  that  the  definitions  of  Dr.  Mercier,  the  famous 
criminologist,  are  very  useful  in  the  study  of  ado- 
lescence. 

Dr.  Mercier  divides  a  criminal  act  into  three 
stages :  the  reception  of  an  idea  caused  by  the  act 
of  the  environment  on  the  individual,  its  contempla- 
tion in  the  individual  mind,  and,  lastly,  the  act  of 
volition  itself,  which  is  the  result  of  the  first  two 
stages.  The  amount  of  responsibility,  according  to 
Dr.  Mercier,  depends  on  the  duration  and  complexity 
of  the  second  stage,  or  in  other  words  on  the  amount 
of  consideration  which  the  individual  has  bestowed 
on  his  act  before  its  performance.  If  the  second 
stage  is  considerable,  the  delinquent  is  suffering  from 


IMMOEALITY  AND  SEXUAL  PERVERSION        59 

a  mind  incapable  of  normal  feelings ;  whereas,  if  the 
second  stage  is  short,  he  is  the  victim  of  an  over- 
whelming passion  which  has  temporarily  swept  aside 
reason  and  restraint. 

The  theory,  like  every  other,  is  open  to  criticism, 
and  the  three  stages  are,  naturally,  to  a  great  extent, 
interdependent ;  but  if  we  accept  it  roughly,  we  must 
realize  that  the  delinquencies  of  youth  belong  almost 
entirely  to  one  group.  Whether  we  care  to  attribute 
the  acts  of  adolescent  perversion  to  the  unnatural 
system  of  our  schools,  or  to  the  corrupt  influence  of 
certain  individuals,  there  is  little  doubt  that  they  are 
usually  hastily  considered  and  hurriedly  carried  out. 

If  we  leave  the  question  of  individual  responsibility 
to  be  settled  by  those  fortunate  persons  who  believe 
that  they  have  finally  decided  the  part  played  by 
volition  in  the  life  of  man,  and  turn  to  other  causes 
of  moral  perversion,  we  shall  find  many  factors  at 
work  during  adolescence.  They  may  be  grouped, 
roughly,  under  six  heads — the  first  three  suggesting 
an  abnormal  individual  developing  in  a  normal 
environment,  the  last  three  a  normal  individual 
developing  in  an  abnormal  environment. 

In  the  first  place  there  is  a  class  of  moral  perver- 
sion due  to  the  youth  or  ignorance  of  the  offender  ; 
there  are  many  instances  of  young  delinquents  com- 
mitting the  grossest  immoralities  with  no  real  idea 
of  their  importance  and  meaning.  Sexual  precocity 
may  play  a  part  in  these  youthful  offences ;  but 
sometimes  even  this  is  absent,  and  we  are  forced  to 
admit  that  these  acts  are  often  committed  in  pure 
and  genuine  ignorance. 

In  a  second  group  we  may  place  those  adolescents 


60       THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

who  are  the  victims  of  slightly  pathological  tendencies 
inherited  from  their  parents.  A  slight  sexual  pathology 
often  exists  which  no  healthy  environment  would 
completely  cure,  but  the  growth  of  which  entirely 
depends  on  whether  the  adolescent  is  placed  in 
wholesome  or  unwholesome  surroundings.  Such  boys 
exist  in  almost  every  school,  and  are  difficult  to  trace, 
as,  except  in  certain  sexual  feelings,  they  are  as  normal 
in  every  respect  as  their  fellows. 

The  third  group  is  fortunately  rare ;  it  consists  of 
those  adolescents  who  are  suffering  from  a  latent 
form  of  mental  derangement  which,  though  difficult 
to  detect  when  young,  may  develop  later  into  obvious 
insanity. 

In  these  three  groups  the  adolescent  has  in  a 
small  degree  been  abnormal ;  in  the  following  three 
groups  influences  of  environment  exist  to  which 
normal  and  abnormal  alike  may  fall  a  victim. 

The  first  kind  of  evil  influence  is  a  general  one, 
closely  connected  with  the  principles  on  which  the 
school  is  arranged,  and  affecting  all  in  a  greater  or 
less  degree.  Such  a  general  evil  tone  is  best  illus- 
trated by  the  results  known  to  all  scientists  of 
herding  large  quantities  of  one  sex  permanently 
together,  when  human  beings  and  animals  alike  fall 
victims  to  moral  perversions  which,  under  normal 
surroundings,  they  would  never  think  of.  The  strong 
may  recover  when  placed  again  in  normal  surround- 
ings, but  any  slight  tendency  to  sexual  perversion 
is  greatly  encouraged  and  fostered. 

The  second  group  of  environmental  influences  is 
less  subtle,  and  can  at  once  be  remedied  by  any  master 
who  realizes  its  dangers.  Although  to  the  ignorant 


IMMOEALITY  AND  SEXUAL  PERVEESION        61 

such  factors  appear  totally  unconnected  with  sexual 
emotion,  they  awaken  sexual  desires  in  the  moral  and 
immoral  boy  alike,  and  no  ethical  teaching  can  stop 
their  influence.  Such  obvious  evils  as  late  meals, 
evening  studies,  beer  -  drinking,  and  overheated 
dormitories,  can  be  stopped  by  one  word  from  the 
head  master  or  parent  who  realizes  their  danger. 

And,  lastly,  there  is  the  personal  influence  for  evil 
which  two  boys  appear  to  have  over  one  another. 
Some  students  have  termed  the  phenomenon  "  mutual 
hypnotism  ";  but  although  the  expression  "  mutual  " 
emphasizes  the  fact  that  both  abductor  and  ab- 
ducted are,  usually,  equally  responsible,  the  word 
"  hypnotism  "  appears  to  introduce  mystery  where 
we  should  cling  faithfully  to  facts.  Professor  Forel 
is  inclined  to  liken  this  type  of  sexual  feeling  to  the 
normal  love  which  in  later  life  exists  between  persons 
of  the  opposite  sexes,  and  this  also  agrees  with  my 
firm  conviction  that  in  these  cases  the  influence  is 
entirely  mutual,  and  that  neither  party  is  solely  to 
blame.  There  are  many  cases  known  to  pathologists 
in  which  two  boys  yield  at  once  to  the  most  per- 
verted sexual  instincts  when  in  each  other's  company, 
and  yet  with  other  companions  they  are  as  normal 
and  healthy  as  possible. 

Until  comparatively  lately  writers  on  sexual  per- 
version and  vice  have  spoken  as  if  these  immoralities 
were  totally  disconnected  with  the  circumstances 
of  their  existence.  They  have  assigned  their  occur- 
rence to  the  evil  influence  of  a  malevolent  deity, 
and,  ignoring  the  influence  of  ignorance,  heredity, 
and  environment,  they  have  attributed  the  spread 
of  vice  to  the  cleverness  of  the  devil's  disciples,  and 


62       THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

never  to  the  unwholesome  influences  of  the  school 
regime.  It  is  only  in  recent  years,  when  our  belief 
in  an  evil  deity  has  commenced  to  wane,  that  any 
attempt  has  been  made  to  trace  certain  evils,  carefully 
and  scientifically,  to  their  source  in  the  school  life. 

If  head  masters  are  obliged  from  lack  of  time  to 
leave  the  questions  of  mental  derangements  and 
adolescent  pathology  to  medical  experts,  there  is 
surely  no  reason  why  they  should  also  ignore  all 
those  simple  psychological  and  physiological  in- 
fluences which  among  even  healthy  boys  are  the 
cause  of  so  much  sexual  perversion. 

Until  the  publication  of  Dr.  Duke's  book  in  1887, 
few  head  masters  had  even  the  most  elementary 
notions  of  the  influence  of  such  things  as  tempera- 
ture and  diet  on  sexual  emotions  and  the  resulting 
perversions.  Masters  lamented  the  sexual  perver- 
sion which  was  rampant  in  the  schools,  continued 
hourly  to  violate  the  most  elementary  laws  of  adoles- 
cence, and  ignored  the  most  simple  means  of  mini- 
mizing sexual  excitement.  To-day  the  old  saying, 
that  when  we  expose  evil  it  ceases  to  exist,  is 
nowhere  truer  than  in  our  school  life.  The  serious 
study  of  sexual  facts  is  slowly  but  surely  destroying 
that  privacy  which  is  the  best  friend  of  vice  and 
immorality.  It  has  only  been  due  to  self-satisfied 
ignorance  and  snobbish  pride  that  immorality  has 
continued  as  long  as  it  has  in  our  large  boarding 
schools. 

THE  CHAMPING  ENVIRONMENT  OF  OUR  BOARDING 
SCHOOLS. — The  environment  of  our  boys  at  the  large 
preparatory  boarding  schools  is  controlled  and 


IMMORALITY  AND  SEXUAL  PERVERSION        63 

limited  to  an  extent  hardly  surpassed  in  our  prisons 
and  asylums.  At  home  the  boy  or  girl  of  twelve  or 
fourteen  finds  many  outlets  for  the  creative  energy  or 
desire  for  self-realization  which  Professor  Sadler  has 
described  as  the  essential  quality  of  every  healthy 
adolescent.  At  school  the  boy,  avid  for  new  ex- 
perience, is  confined  within  a  few  acres  of  ground, 
few  visits  even  to  shops  are  allowed,  and  there  are 
few  games  which  are  self-chosen  and  self-organized  ; 
he  is  allowed  no  friendship  with  men  or  women  older 
than  himself,  he  sees  no  younger  children,  nor  can 
he  enjoy  those  half-shy,  half- confident  meetings  with 
girls  of  his  own  age,  which,  under  natural  circum- 
stances, add  balance  to  his  existence. 

We  force  instruction  on  our  boys  for  eight  hours 
a  day,  and  we  make  them  repeat  in  speech  or 
writing  exactly  what  we  have  given  them  to  learn. 
We  allow  no  digestion  of  the  knowledge  we  instil, 
and  are  only  pleased  if  their  repetition  is  identical 
and  accurate.  We  organize  their  games  as  much 
as  their  work.  We  drill  them  to  perform  the  feats 
that  we  ourselves  set  them,  and  are  only  pleased  if 
they  approach  the  perfection  which  our  mind  has 
decided  is  an  ideal  performance. 

And  in  the  midst  of  these  ordered  and  narrow 
surroundings  there  suddenly  arises  a  new  feeling  of 
energy  in  the  adolescent — he  wakes  up  to  the  fact 
that  he  has  become  an  individual ;  he  glories  in  the 
creative  power  latent  in  his  mind  and  body,  and  he 
longs  to  put  his  energy  to  a  test  he  has  himself 
devised.  What  healthy  development  do  we  allow 
for  these  instincts  ? 

In  the  preparatory  school  for  an  hour  a  day  we 


64       THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

permit  our  boys  to  do  more  or  less  what  they  like 
within  the  narrow  limits  of  the  school  playground. 
Perhaps  for  half  an  hour  after  supper  we  allow  them 
to  read  one  of  six  books  which  we  have  procured 
from  the  great  world  outside.  We  are  too  frightened 
by  the  result  of  the  cramped  environment  with  which 
we  have  surrounded  the  eruptive  forces  of  adolescence 
to  allow  our  boys  to  do  what  they  like.  We  half 
realize  that  we  have  corrupted  them  through  want  of 
interest,  and  by  further  narrowing  their  pursuits  we 
must  prevent  that  corruption  from  unlimited  sway. 

The  pleasure  of  a  mental  redistribution  of  facts, 
the  joy  of  spontaneous  discovery,  we  ignore.  At 
the  age  when  the  boy  craves  most  for  new  ex- 
periences we  deny  him  even  the  humdrum  excite- 
ments of  our  adult  life.  When  the  greatest  forces 
in  the  world  are  beginning  to  show  restlessness 
and  power,  when  the  boy  yearns  with  all  his  heart 
for  discovery  and  bloodshed,  we  give  him  a  Latin 
Grammar  and  bid  him  to  learn  the  contents  by  heart. 
Is  it  to  be  wondered  at  that  the  spirited  boy  finds 
outlets  for  his  restless  energy  as  strange,  unnatural, 
and  perverted,  as  the  environment  in  which  we  place 
him  ?  Ought  we  to  be  surprised  that  when  the 
day's  work  is  done,  and  the  spirit  of  adventure  has 
only  gained  strength  by  continued  suppression,  it 
should  burst  out  in  the  one  direction  that  we  cannot 
stop,  and  seek  satisfaction  for  its  energy  in  immorality 
and  vice  ? 

Like  many  diseases  of  adult  life,  adolescent  perver- 
sion has  been  tackled  from  the  wrong  end.  We  have 
observed  evils,  and  we  have  attempted  to  suppress 
them,  but  we  have  been  too  busy  or  too  prudish  to 


IMMORALITY  AND  SEXUAL  PERVERSION         65 

investigate  their  causes.  We  may  continue  to  pity 
or  despise  the  weak  perverted  boy ;  but  unless  we 
alter  the  unwholesome  environment  which  causes 
the  strong  and  weak  alike  to  stumble,  our  large 
boarding  schools  will  continue  to  suffer  from  the 
same  immoralities  and  the  same  perversions  as  they 
did  a  hundred  years  ago. 

THE  WARNINGS  OF  MORALISTS.  —  When  the 
moralists  of  last  century  realized  that  a  belief 
in  a  malevolent  deity  was  beginning  to  fade  away, 
they  felt  that  one  of  their  chief  weapons  was  be- 
coming useless.  The  adolescent,  as  well  as  the  adult, 
appeared  to  be  losing  all  fear  of  punishment  in  the 
next  world,  and  the  suggestion  of  unearthly  torments 
was  either  ridiculed  or  ignored.  What  could  the 
moralists  do  ?  They  could  bring  no  direct  evidence 
of  punishment  in  a  future  life,  and  they  could 
conceive  no  righteousness  which  was  not  founded  on 
threats  and  fear.  They  had  but  two  courses  open — 
either  they  must  accept  rationalism  and  appeal  to 
people's  reason  alone,  or  invent  new  and  more 
horrible  threats  with  which  to  frighten  mankind. 

They  consulted  the  scientist,  and  discovered  from 
him  that  Nature,  when  misused  or  imposed  upon, 
seeks  to  establish  normal  stability,  and  although 
often  successful,  sometimes  fails.  Here  was  a  weapon 
which  could  be  easily  turned  into  a  threat.  The 
delinquent  must  not  be  told  that  Nature  is  kindly 
and  often  repairs  the  evil  of  those  who  have 
fought  against  her ;  this  would  be  dangerous.  The 
other  half  of  the  truth  must  alone  be  revealed. 
Nature  dislikes  being  abused,  and  if  she  is  continually 

5 


66       THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

offended,  loses  power  to  reassert  herself;  she  seems 
to  be  no  longer  helping  to  repair  the  injury  of  the 
offender,  but  rather  assisting  in  his  undoing.  This 
new  threat  had  a  suspicion  of  truth  in  it,  which 
made  it  peculiarly  dangerous  to  those  susceptible  to 
threats  of  punishment.  Many  who  had  laughed  at 
the  picture  of  a  grotesque  deity  amusing  himself  by 
inflicting  everlasting  punishment  on  unfortunate 
mortals  listened  attentively  to  the  semi-scientific 
picture  of  the  inexorable  forces  of  Nature  condemning 
the  moral  pervert  to  a  lunatic  asylum  in  middle  age. 

The  truth  contained  in  these  worldly  threats  was 
misleading.  Certain  cases  of  sexual  perversions, 
combined  with  mental  instability,  do  occasionally 
send  men  and  women  to  asylums  ;  but  perversion  and 
lunacy  are  generally  both  effects  of  a  weak  mental 
inheritance,  and  the  picture  of  the  former  causing 
the  latter  is  unscientific  and  dangerous.  The  fallacy 
of  these  threats  was  studiously  concealed  by  the 
moralists,  the  cases  which  suffered  permanently  and 
grievously  from  perverted  instincts  during  adoles- 
cence were  carefully  recorded,  and  the  thousands 
of  temporary  perverts  who  escaped  with  no  more 
dramatic  or  terrible  punishment  than  a  mediocre 
life  of  low  vitality  were  as  studiously  ignored. 

The  effects  of  these  terrible  warnings  was  ob- 
vious on  the  adolescent  possessed  of  that  highly- 
strung  temperament  which  usually  accompanies  moral 
perversion.  We  hardly  need  Dr.  Clouston  to  tell  us 
that  more  sexual  perverts  find  their  way  to  lunatic 
asylums  through  the  horrible  fears  created  by  these 
misdirected  moralists  than  would  ever  arrive  there 
through  the  direct  effects  of  their  sexual  excess. 


IMMORALITY  AND  SEXUAL  PERVERSION         67 

For  years  the  scientists  have  allowed  these  half 
truths  to  be  circulated  among  adolescents  with 
scarcely  a  word  of  contradiction.  The  men  and 
women  who  make  their  money  by  threatening  and 
horrifying  boys  and  girls  have  been  allowed  a  clear 
field  for  their  activities,  and  scarcely  a  man  of  repute 
has  written  any  clear,  truthful,  and  scientific  account 
of  sexual  phenomena  during  adolescence  ;  this  lament- 
able fact  has  not  only  permitted  dishonourable  men 
to  make  their  living  by  trading  on  the  susceptible 
fears  of  adolescents,  but  has  also  allowed  honourable 
men  with  often  the  very  best  intentions  to  do  a 
great  deal  of  harm.  Men  with  names  famous  in 
various  walks  of  life,  but  who  have  never  made  any 
really  scientific  study  of  the  perversions  of  adoles- 
cence, have  circulated  broadcast  among  boys  and 
girls  statements  of  half  truths  and  veiled  threats  of 
lunacy  the  evil  of  which  they  can  hardly  have  realized. 
Men  in  such  widely  different  professions  as  General 
Baden- Powell,  Canon  Wilberforce,  and  Henrik  Ibsen 
have  alike  lent  their  names  to  words  on  incontinence, 
which  are  fraught  with  possibilities  of  the  greatest 
harm  to  the  highly-strung  boy  or  girl  for  whose  ears 
they  are  intended.  In  dealing  with  sexual  im- 
morality we  should  never  forget  the  words  of 
Professor  Jones  of  Glasgow,  "  Men  are  educated  byj 
their  hopes,  not  by  their  fears." 

In  their  anger  against  these  well-meaning,  but 
terrifying,  tutors  of  adolescence,  men  like  Belford  Bax 
have  probably  erred  too  much  on  the  other  side,  and 
have  led  their  readers  to  suppose  that  no  evil  results 
occur  from  moral  perversion.  There  is  harm  also  in 
such  statements  ;  but  I  think  these  optimists  have  a 


68       THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

strong  case  when  they  say  that  no  language  is  too 
powerful  to  contradict  those  exaggerations  and  mis- 
representations which  carry  terror  into  the  heart  of 
weak  adolescents  at  times  when  they  need  the 
greatest  encouragement. 

The  scientific  writers  on  the  sexual  side  of  adoles- 
cent development  are  few,  but  they  exist  neverthe- 
less, and  one  wishes  that  their  truthful,  well-balanced 
statements  might  be  placed  before  the  eyes  of  every 
adolescent.  Two  names  stand  out  among  this  small 
band  who  speak  the  truth  where  almost  everyone 
lies  or  misrepresents :  they  are  Dr.  Clouston  of 
Edinburgh  and  Professor  Stanley  Hall.  Their  books, 
however,  are  learned  and  expensive,  and  it  is  to  be 
feared  that  few  masters  or  boys  are  in  possession  of 
such  wholesome  treatises,  written  in  a  spirit  so 
moderate,  truthful,  and  unprejudiced. 

To  anyone  who  realizes  the  amount  of  sexual 
perversion  which  exists  in  our  schools,  the  statement 
that  the  moral  pervert  is  doomed  to  the  asylum 
must  indeed  sound  absurd  ;  but  although  we  ridicule 
the  exaggerated  threats  of  the  extreme  moralists,  we 
must  not  deny  that  the  real  evils  of  sexual  perversion 
are  far-reaching  and  most  important.  Among  the 
mass  of  contradictory  statements  on  sexual  im- 
morality it  is  essential  to  obtain  a  clear  and  unbiassed 
view  of  facts,  and  if  it  is  important  for  the  adult  to 
have  a  truthful  and  concise  idea  of  these  questions  it 
is  doubly  important  for  the  adolescent.  To  all  who 
are  going  through  that  hesitating  period  of  mental 
and  bodily  development  we  call  adolescence,  and  to 
all  adults  who  have  their  care,  these  are  the  simple 
truths  I  should  tell. 


IMMORALITY  AND  SEXUAL  PERVERSION         69 

The  ability  to  stand  sexual  excess  and  incontinence 
is  a  matter  of  personal  temperament.  Many  in- 
dividuals may  indulge  in  sexual  excess  with  little 
harm,  except  a  general  weakening  of  character. 
Such  general  weakening  does  not,  as  a  rule,  lead  to 
any  sudden  or  very  terrible  results,  but  tends  to  a 
general  and  gradual  deterioration  of  ability,  and  to 
a  mediocre  and  rather  uninteresting  future  life. 
The  effect  of  sexual  excess  on  the  mental  or  bodily 
energy  can  be  judged  by  every  individual  for  him- 
self, and  the  wise  adolescent,  if  he  wishes  to  be  a 
well-known,  famous,  or  respected  man,  will  profit 
by  the  "gentle  but  unmistakeable  warnings  he 
receives"  (Professor  Fowler,  U.S.A.).  The  public 
or  private  teaching  of  sexual  excess  to  others  is 
a  dangerous  and  serious  responsibility.  The  pervert 
who  teaches  immorality  may  not  suffer  to  any  very 
appreciable  extent  from  his  vice,  but  the  com- 
panion to  whom  he  teaches  his  perversion  may 
be  less  strong  or  more  inclined  to  immorality, 
and  his  future  may  be  permanently  and  irrevocably 
injured. 

To  truths  such  as  these  adolescents  will  listen 
with  attention.  The  facts  will  interest  them,  as  they 
must  interest  every  healthy  boy  or  girl,  and  ex- 
perience cannot  teach  them  that  such  statements 
are  false  or  exaggerated.  There  are  some  who 
maintain  that  such  matters  should  not  be  men- 
tioned to  adolescents,  arid  there  is  much  in  their 
arguments  that  warrants  attention ;  but  if  the 
adolescent  is  to  be  told  anything  on  these  subjects, 
he  should  be  told  the  truth,  the  whole  truth,  and 
nothing  but  the  truth. 


70       THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

The  present  system  is  worse  than  useless,  since  it 
consists  of  a  mixture  of  half  truths  and  whole  mis- 
representations. You  tell  your  boy  that  sexual 
desire  is  dreadful :  he  knows  that  it  is  pleasant. 
You  tell  him  that  it  is  wicked  :  if  he  is  a  healthy 
adolescent,  and  not  already  hopelessly  perverted,  he 
feels  in  every  fibre  of  his  body  that  it  is  good. 
You  tell  him  that  it  leads  to  mental  derangement 
and  bodily  prostration :  he  sees  your  statements 
contradicted  perhaps  by  the  head  of  his  class,  per- 
haps by  the  captain  of  his  cricket  eleven. 

Whatever  untruths  you  tell  your  boy  or  girl  on 
these  matters,  they  will  inevitably  be  found  out. 
Every  clergyman,  parent,  or  schoolmaster  who 
exaggerates  or  misrepresents  the  results  of  in- 
continence or  immorality  will  sooner  or  later  be 
contradicted  by  the  personal  experience  of  the 
adolescent ;  and  when  his  suggestions  have  been 
found  false,  and  his  lies  have  been  discovered,  all 
his  careful  warnings  and  good  advice  will  perish 
through  the  discovery. 

When  moralists  of  every  creed  and  every  belief 
have  decided  either  to  tell  the  whole  scientific 
truth  on  sexual  matters  to  the  adolescent,  or 
else  never  mention  the  subject  at  all,  adolescents 
will  be  freed  from  many  of  the  unnecessary 
fears  and  terrors  which  at  present  gather  round 
these  subjects.  In  the  future  there  is  little 
doubt  that  the  threat  of  lunacy  will  disappear 
as  surely  as  the  threat  of  hell,  and  that  we  shall 
look  back  upon  these  means  of  torturing  our 
adolescents  as  we  now  do  upon  the  rack  and  the 
thumb-screw. 


IMMORALITY  AND  SEXUAL  PERVERSION         71 

THE  PHENOMENA  OF  SEXUAL  PERVERSION. — Before 
passing  on  to  a  detailed  consideration  of  the  pheno- 
mena of  sexual  and  quasi-sexual  perversions  common 
during  adolescence,  we  must  realize  that  because  a 
symptom  is  pathological,  it  is  not  necessarily  per- 
manent or  even  difficult  to  cure.  If  we  glance  at 
the  life  in  our  big  boarding  schools,  we  see  that 
a  great  number  of  our  boys  and  girls  pass  through 
a  period  of  moral  perversion,  which  is  becoming  so 
common  that  many  suppose  it  to  be  an  inevitable 
circumstance  of  adolescence.  It  is  difficult  to 
obtain  much  educated  opinion  on  these  subjects, 
but  it  seems  certain  that  the  moral  perversion  in 
our  boarding  schools  is  greatly  in  excess  of  the 
natural  moral  uncertainty  which  all  growing  boys 
and  girls  feel.  It  seems  evident  that  remedies  are 
needed  in  our  system  of  education,  and  that  the 
present  amount  of  moral  perversion  during  adoles- 
cence is  unnecessarily  great. 

Many  of  the  homosexual  immoralities  of  our  large 
schools  are  entirely  unnatural  ones,  and  when  the 
boys  go  back  into  normal  surroundings  they 
gradually  free  themselves  from  the  vicious  atmos- 
phere. Our  large  boarding  schools  are  not  the 
only  examples  of  homosexuality  artificially  created 
by  herding  large  numbers  of  one  sex  permanently 
together  ;  the  same  results  are  produced  by  the 
importation  of  male  slaves  and  by  our  prison  life,  as 
well  as  by  sex  segregation  among  animals.  Homo- 
sexuality is  beyond  doubt  a  purely  manufactured 
vice,  and  although  it  is  common  in  our  large  schools, 
we  must  not  ignore  the  fact  that  given  natural 
surroundings  the  adolescent  does  not  as  a  rule 


72       THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

develop  it.  This  adolescent  perversion  is  probably 
one  of  the  most  unnecessary  evils  of  civilization,  and 
now  that  we  have  discovered  its  chief  cause  we 
should  not  long  delay  its  general  prevention. 

Fortunately  in  England,  bestial  sodomy  is  rare, 
although  perhaps  not  so  rare  as  many  suppose. 
There  are  many  instances  of  artists,  musicians,  and 
religious  maniacs,  who  revel  in  the  sodomic  legends 
of  mythology,  and  choose  as  ornaments  for  their 
rooms  sodomic  statues  of  beasts  and  women. 
Among  adolescents,  however,  this  is  not  a  great 
evil ;  the  disease  is  so  extremely  unnatural  that 
unless  suggested  by  an  adult  it  is  unlikely  to  occur. 
In  England  few  get  further  than  the  symbols  of 
this  disease,  but  one  would  wish  that  even  these 
could  be  removed,  at  any  rate,  from  the  houses  of 
our  more  highly  educated  men  and  women. 

Passing  from  the  direct  sexual  inversion  which  is 
so  marked  a  pathological  characteristic  of  our  board- 
ing schools,  there  are  two  secondary  sexual  per- 
versions— sadism  and  masochism — intimately  allied 
with  each  other  and  deserving  the  closest  attention. 
There  may  be  some  who  still  deny  the  sexual  origin 
of  the  love  of  torturing  and  of  being  tortured,  but 
almost  all  who  have  read  the  researches  of  Professor 
Forel  and  Mr.  Havelock  Ellis  must  realize  that 
such  feelings  have  a  close  connection  with  sexual 
emotion. 

Sadism  is  a  universal  and  subtle  form  of  per- 
version, and  appears  often  under  the  cloak  of  hate 
or  even  as  a  form  of  love  that  chasteneth.  Punish- 
ment will  always  be  necessary  in  schools,  and  it  will 
be  always  difficult  to  distinguish  the  punishment 


IMMORALITY  AND  SEXUAL  PERVERSION        73 

which  is  inflicted  for  the  love  of  observing  pain, 
from  the  punishment  which  originates  from  a 
genuine  desire  to  improve  the  adolescent.  It 
requires  a  mind  trained  in  psychology  and  patho- 
logy to  appreciate  the  stage  when  the  mind  of 
a  master  passes  from  the  wholesome  desire  to 
impart  knowledge  and  drifts  towards  the  quasi  - 
sexual  delight  of  observing  mental  and  bodily 
torture. 

The  sadist  usually  takes  equal  pleasure  in  the 
torment  of  mind  and  in  the  pain  of  body ;  his 
feelings  often  find  expression  in  personal  remarks  or 
sarcasms,  and  he  frequently  takes  keen  delight  in 
holding  a  boy  up  to  ridicule  before  a  class.  Many 
masters  twist  the  bare  arms  of  their  pupils  as  a 
punishment,  and  others  enjoy  watching  the  face  of 
a  good-looking  boy  as  a  black  ruler  is  slowly  pro- 
duced from  a  drawer. 

In  these  comparatively  innocent  pleasures  the 
sadist  often  finds  sufficient  satisfaction  for  his  semi- 
suppressed  sexual  desires,  but  he  occasionally  passes 
on  to  a  state  of  more  developed  pathology,  and 
practises  the  most  bestial  cruelties  the  human  mind 
is  capable  of  inventing.  The  cloak  of  duty  often 
wraps  the  bluebeard  in  the  garb  of  a  respectable 
official  carrying  out  an  unpleasant  task,  and  in 
studying  so  subtle  a  disease  we  must  be  on  our 
guard  against  such  superficial  disguises. 

The  masters  in  our  English  schools  would  as  a 
rule  be  horrified  at  the  sexual  voluptuousness 
which  delights  the  more  advanced  sexual  pervert, 
and  they  are  usually  quite  satisfied  by  continued 
small  tortures  of  a  comparatively  trivial  nature. 


74       THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

The  delight  in  these  minor  torments  is  very 
common,  and  the  pathological  master  finds  plenty 
of  opportunities  of  inflicting  slight  discomfort  on 
his  pupils. 

The  sadist  often  delights  in  watching  as  well  as 
inflicting  tortures,  and  in  the  old  days  the  gathering 
of  masters  at  school  floggings  bore  eloquent  testimony 
to  the  fact.  To-day  the  delight  of  the  sadist  in 
watching  real  torture  is  less  evident,  and  he  is  often 
satisfied  by  the  mock  representation  of  torture  and 
pain  on  the  stage.  In  the  delight  of  martyrdom 
we  find  the  religious  man's  outlet  for  his  latent 
voluptuousness,  and  it  is  interesting  to  watch  the 
bluebeard  element  in  our  religion  when  we  see 
excited  churchgoers  clapping  their  hands  with 
enthusiasm  at  a  charity  entertainment  when  a 
pretty  St.  Cecilia  or  a  handsome  Joan  of  Arc  is 
bound  to  the  stake. 

Among  children  sadism  starts  with  the  love  of 
torturing  animals,  and  when  sexual  desires  dawn 
during  adolescence  it  seems  to  develop  into  the 
love  of  bullying  smaller  boys  or  girls.  In  some  the 
love  of  torturing  animals  remains  during  life,  and 
sexual  satisfaction  in  other  directions  seems  to  fail 
to  evaporate  this  feeling.  There  are  men  of  forty 
or  more  who  take  the  keenest  delight  in  spending 
a  whole  afternoon  in  watching  the  death  of  slowly 
drowning  flies.  As  a  rule,  however,  the  torturer  of 
animals  develops  during  adolescence  into  the  bully 
of  smaller  boys  ;  the  love  of  watching  pain  may  find 
direct  satisfaction  in  beating  the  bare  hands  or  feet 
of  his  victims,  or,  more  indirectly,  by  causing  them  to 
kneel  for  a  fictitious  flogging  or  a  mock  execution. 


IMMORALITY  AND  SEXUAL  PERVERSION        75 

The  sadist  of  fourteen  is  not  always  the  sadist  of  forty, 
and  it  is  only  in  the  rare  cases  that  marked  sadism 
persists  in  later  life.  When  the  wider  interests  of 
adult  life  and  the  natural  mixing  with  persons  of  the 
opposite  sex  bring  a  wholesome  atmosphere,  the  tem- 
porary perversions  of  adolescence  usually  fade  away. 

Masochism,  or  the  love  of  being  tortured,  is  rarer 
among  males  than  sadism  ;  and  although  the  victim 
of  the  sadist  may  be  often  the  masochist  in  dis- 
guise, the  voluptuousness  of  inflicting  punishment 
seems  to  greatly  exceed  the  sexual  joy  of  receiving 
it.  The  perverted  schoolmaster  is  nearly  always  a 
sadist,  although  I  have  known  several  cases  where 
masters  enjoyed  being  tortured  by  their  boys.  The 
master's  cloak  of  dignity  allows  little  revelation  of 
a  tendency  to  masochism.  Among  the  boys,  how- 
ever, every  school  contains  its  masochists  as  well 
as  its  sadists ;  there  are  no  girls  who  enjoy  a  legiti- 
mate amount  of  teasing,  so  boys  take  their  place. 
The  high-spirited  adolescent  of  sound  physique 
often  feels  pleasure  rather  than  discomfort  in  being 
captured  by  his  master  or  schoolfellows,  and 
although  the  pain  they  inflict  is  often  consider- 
able, his  blood  runs  hotly  through  his  veins ;  he 
smiles  as  he  is  tormented  and  tortured,  and  after 
his  beating  is  warm  and  excited,  not  pale  and 
trembling. 

In  this  sketch  of  perversion  among  adolescents  and 
adults  I  have  endeavoured  to  keep  to  facts,  and  neither 
to  minimize  nor  exaggerate  their  importance.  Those 
who  have  studied  either  boys'  or  girls'  schools  must 
be  well  acquainted  with  the  phenomena  which  I  have 
described ;  and  if  the  causes  or  mental  states  which 


76        THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

I  have  shown  behind  them  appear  to  some  strange 
and  new,  they  must  not  disbelieve  them  on  this 
account.  Many  who  have  had  experience  contend 
that  among  girls  there  are  more  masochists  and  less 
sadists  than  among  boys,  and  this  would  be  the 
obvious  tendency  of  the  female  sex.  These  feelings, 
however,  whether  among  boys  or  girls,  are  due  to 
the  same  sexual  emotions  which,  innate  in  all  normal 
human  beings,  become  perverted  and  distorted  it 
they  are  allowed  no  wholesome  evaporation. 

There  is  little  doubt  that  among  adolescents  there 
is  a  much  greater  tendency  to  sexual  perversion  in 
the  upper  classes  than  in  the  lower.  The  higher  we 
go  in  the  scale  of  intellect  and  wealth,  the  less 
normal  we  seem  to  find  the  sexual  instincts.  The 
lowest  classes  of  all  may,  from  crowded  houses  or 
other  external  causes,  suffer  from  certain  evils  to 
which  *  the  richer  are  not  liable  ;  but  when  we  once 
leave  the  level  of  absolute  want  and  ascend  the 
social  scale,  we  find  that  the  adolescents  seem  to  be 
more  and  more  liable  to  sexual  perversions.  Masters 
who  have  kept  large  preparatory  schools  for  the 
upper  classes  have  often  noted  with  surprise  that 
the  moral  tone  of  the  school  seems  to  vary  in  exact 
inverse  ratio  to  the  social  positions  of  the  scholars 
they  admit. 

Many  sociologists,  in  dealing  with  this  peculiarity, 
have  attributed  the  high  standard  of  sexual  morality 
among  the  middle  and  lower  middle  classes  to  less 
food,  and  a  more  open-air  life,  combined  with  bodily 
exercise.  But  we  must  remember  that  in  schools 
the  same  conditions  apply  to  all  scholars,  and  among 
adults  the  conditions  of  our  factories  are  certainly 


IMMORALITY  AND  SEXUAL  PERVERSION         77 

riot  more  healthy  than  our  mansions,  and  the  amount 
of  real  healthy  bodily  exercise  is  often  as  little  among 
the  poor  as  the  rich .  The  greater  prevalence  of  sexual 
perversion  among  the  adults  of  our  upper  classes  may 
be  attributed  to  the  bad  tone  of  their  large  boarding 
schools  and  to  the  comparatively  wholesome  atmos- 
phere of  the  State  day  school,  but  this  would  not 
account  for  the  healthy  atmosphere  which,  even  before 
adolescence,  the  middle  class  boy  seems  to  bring  in 
to  a  boarding  school  already  filled  with  his  social 
superiors. 

The  facts  seem  to  point  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
sexual  pervert  is  usually  a  boy  of  considerable  intel- 
lectual endowments,  and  with  possibilities  of  great 
original  ability ;  he  may  or  may  not  make  use  of  it 
in  adult  life ;  but  if  we  look  back  to  his  early  days 
we  seem  to  find  that  the  moral  pervert  possessed  con- 
siderable energy  and  powers  of  self-realization,  that 
he  had  a  potentiality  both  for  genius  and  perversion 
far  in  excess  of  his  fellows.  Even  if  the  environment 
of  the  upper  and  lower  classes  were  equally  healthy, 
the  most  gifted  adolescents  seem  to  run  far  greater 
danger  of  perversion,  and  as  schools  exist  at  present 
they  are  placed  in  an  atmosphere  peculiarly  suitable 
for  turning  the  energy  into  immorality.  The  classes 
which  are  most  gifted  with  originality  and  creative 
energy  are  placed  in  boarding  schools  where  perver- 
sion is  the  only  easy  outlet  for  these  forces,  while 
those  less  highly  endowed  with  the  cravings  of  an 
active  and  restless  mind  are  sent  to  day  schools  and 
left  half  the  time  in  an  atmosphere,  wholesome  for 
them,  but  far  more  necessary  to  a  mind  whose  very 
life  consists  of  new  experience  and  fresh  discovery. 


78        THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

To  say  that  the  upper  classes  are  innately  immoral 
is  to  do  them  an  injustice,  but  they  are  born  innately 
imaginative,  and  with  a  temperament  which  must 
have  wide  interests,  wholesome  or  perverted,  an 
ability  which  can  be  used  or  squandered  according 
to  the  latitude  of  their  environment.  The  labourer 
may  start  life  with  less  imagination  and  therefore 
less  tendency  to  evil,  but  his  wholesome  sexual  tone 
is  due  also  to  the  wide  world  in  which  he  finds 
himself,  and  to  the  greater  satisfaction  during 
adolescence  of  any  desire  he  may  possess  for  new 
experiences. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE    CURES   OF   IMMORALITY    AND   SEXUAL 
PATHOLOGY   IN    SCHOOLS 

Three  methods  of  reform — The  conservative  method  :  Supervision, 
religious  dogma,  athletics — The  rational  method  :  Self-initia- 
tion in  work  and  play,  sexual  instruction,  social  duties  and 
civil  life — Co-education. 

THREE  METHODS  OF  REFORM.  —  Although  almost 
everyone  agrees  that  a  great  improvement  in  the 
sexual  morality  of  our  large  schools  is  necessary, 
there  are  considerable  differences  of  opinion  on  the 
methods  which  should  be  adopted.  The  evils  of 
adolescence  are  often  traced  to  such  widely  different 
sources  that  it  is  scarcely  strange  that  the  remedies 
are  also  strikingly  different,  and  seem  to  have  little 
connection  with  each  other.  It  is  possible  for  con- 
venience to  divide  the  various  methods  of  reform 
into  three  groups,  and  although  the  members  of 
each  group  often  differ  widely  among  themselves, 
they  are  bound  together  by  certain  strong  convic- 
tions which  essentially  differentiate  them  from  the 
other  two. 

THE  CONSERVATIVE  METHOD. — The  first  group 
may  be  called  conservative.  They  put  their  con- 
fidence in  the  direct  or  external  method  of 

79 


80       THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

training ;  they  consider  that  confidence  and  manli- 
ness are  built  up  rather  by  obedience  to  the  will  and 
teachings  of  others  than  by  an  internal  discipline 
which  obeys  the  dictates  of  a  personal  sense  of 
reason  and  responsibility.  Their  trust  is  in  training 
the  adolescent  to  fight  against,  rather  than  to 
reason  with,  temptation,  and  they  look  to  a  system 
of  constant  supervision,  much  dogmatic  religion,  and 
a  respect  for  athleticism  to  achieve  their  ends. 
Many  would  suppose  that  it  is  impossible  to  increase 
the  influence  of  these  three  factors  in  our  large 
schools  ;  but  whether  this  is  so  or  not,  the  majority 
of  masters  and  parents  rely  entirely  on  these  three 
factors  in  adolescent  training. 

Supervision. — The  first  of  the  remedies  suggested 
by  this  class  of  reformers  undoubtedly  appears  most 
prominent  in  their  creed.  In  spite  of  a  faith  in 
the  dogmatic  teaching  of  abstract  right  and  wrong, 
and  in  spite  of  the  wholesome  influences  which, 
according  to  their  doctrine,  athleticism  possesses, 
a  system  of  almost  constant  supervision  is  deemed 
necessary  during  adolescence.  The  boy  or  girl  who 
is  perpetually  given  tasks  of  work  or  play  by  the 
authorities  of  the  school  is  supposed  to  be  so  full  of 
thoughts  and  occupations  provided  by  others  that 
no  time  for  original  occupations  will  be  left,  and 
therefore  there  will  be  no  danger  of  evil  or  per- 
version. All  personal  interest,  even  in  matters  of 
sex,  is  supposed  to  be  ignored  by  the  adolescent,  to 
whom  we  give  sufficient  work  to  do  and  sufficient 
games  to  play.  Logically,  the  doctrine  is  perfectly 
sound,  and  if  the  adolescent  were  inhuman  the 
system  would  answer  perfectly.  But  these  reformers 


IMMORALITY  AND  SEXUAL  PATHOLOGY         81 

forget  the  craving  for  self-expression  and  the  avidity 
for  self-realization  which  springs  into  life  during  adoles- 
cence, and  which  no  tasks  prescribed  by  others,  be 
they  of  work  or  play,  will  fully  satisfy.  The  healthy, 
strong  adolescent  himself  decides  what  he  wishes  to 
find  out,  what  he  desires  to  study,  and  it  is  generally 
only  the  weak  and  lifeless  boy  who  is  satisfied  by 
a  routine  dictated  by  his  elders.  In  theory  we  can 
insure  morality  by  perpetual  control  both  of  the 
adolescent  and  of  the  occupations  we  allow  him 
to  indulge  in,  but  in  practice  the  task  becomes 
impossible ;  we  find  that  we  are  crushing  the  very 
spirit  of  investigation  and  individual  interest  on 
which  the  future  of  the  boy  entirely  depends.  If 
we  attempt  to  keep  the  boy  from  any  of  those 
delightful  secret  and  unseen  acts  which  are  the 
very  essence  of  his  life,  we  must  fail  miserably,  and 
it  is  only  when  we  fail  that  the  boy's  character 
will  develop.  The  greater  the  watchfulness  of  the 
outside  world,  the  greater  the  desire  for  evil  in  those 
secret  acts  which  no  spying  matron  and  no  despotic 
master  can  ever  reach.  The  worst  forms  of  im- 
morality, the  worst  and  most  degraded  acts  of 
perversion,  often  occur  in  a  room  in  which  a  master 
is  on  duty,  and  in  which  a  superficial  onlooker  would 
observe  only  complete  silence  and  perfect  order. 

Religious  Dogma.  —  The  second  influence  which 
the  conservative  educationists  rely  on  is  dogmatic 
religious  teaching ;  they  forget  that  belief,  like 
reason,  comes  only  with  experience,  and  they  try 
to  turn  the  seed  of  religion,  which  each  child 
possesses,  suddenly  and  by  a  single  act  into  a  full- 
grown  tree.  By  natural  means  the  task  is  impos- 

6 


82       THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

sible,  and  threats  and  punishments  attempt  to  fill 
a  position  which  experience  and  reason  alone  should 
occupy. 

If,  as  Dr.  Clouston  states,  writings  on  the  results 
of  sexual  excess  drive  comparatively  normal  boys  to 
asylums,  it  is  also  certain  that  the  punishments  of 
vengeance  preached  by  the  misguided  cleric  often  drive 
quite  religious  boys  to  a  temporary  and  most  unneces- 
sary adolescent  atheism.  If  the  boy  is  strong  mentally 
and  physically,  and  capable  of  a  certain  amount  of 
sexual  indulgence  without  apparent  harm,  as  most 
adolescent  perverts  are,  he  will  laugh  at  the  threats  of 
all  the  clerics  and  fanatic  moralists  in  England.  If,  on 
the  other  hand,  the  adolescent  is  highly  strung  and 
nervous,  the  threat  will  either  be  unnecessary  or,  if 
slight  perversion  already  exists,  one  of  the  most 
harmful  and  dangerous  things  for  his  future  stability. 
If  our  religious  teaching  during  adolescence  depends 
on  rewards  and  punishments,  be  they  earthly  or 
heavenly,  then  religion  will  be  treated  by  the 
healthy,  free-minded  boy  or  girl  with  that  disgust 
and  contempt  which  in  this  form  it  certainly 
deserves.  In  religious  ideals  and  in  ethical  con- 
ceptions the  adult  is  often  hopelessly  inadequate 
to  deal  with  that  shrewd  active  penetration  which 
lies  behind  the  apparent  lethargy  of  adolescence. 

Athletics. — The  third  and  last  belief  of  the  con- 
servative reformer  is  in  the  wholesome  influence  of 
athleticism ;  he  is  right  and  he  is  wrong.  He  is 
right  if  the  athletics  are  the  free  and  spontaneous 
activities  in  which  child  and  adolescent  both  delight ; 
he  is  completely  and  entirely  wrong  if  athleticism 
means  the  development  of  a  muscular  body  trained 


IMMORALITY  AND  SEXUAL  PATHOLOGY         83 

by  another's  will,  or  a  skill  in  games  or  sports 
the  rules,  regulations,  and  standards  of  which  are 
arranged  by  circumstances  over  which  the  adoles- 
cent has  no  control.  When  we  hear  schoolmasters 
say  that  the  athletic  adolescent  is  usually  a  type  of 
manly  virtue  and  morality,  he  is  generally  speaking 
of  the  trained  and  not  the  spontaneous  athlete,  and, 
if  so,  he  is  making  an  entirely  untrue  statement. 
The  trained  athlete  may  be  moral  in  the  same  way 
as  the  trained  fighter  may  be  religious,  but  to  point 
to  a  relation  of  cause  and  effect  is  both  untrue  and 
misleading.  It  is  only  in  so  far  as  the  boy  or 
girl  finds  in  games  or  athletics  an  outlet  for  that 
individual  expression  for  which  he  craves  that  bodily 
prowess  can  be  a  sign  of  moral  virtue.  Too  often 
our  games  and  sports  suppress  rather  than  express 
the  feelings  of  the  adolescent,  and  train  a  strong 
muscular  body  which  seeks  in  other  and  perverted 
directions  an  outlet  for  its  spontaneous  self-directed 
activities. 

The  athletic  pervert  is  often  prepossessing  in 
appearance,  but  his  influence  may  be  the  worst  in 
the  school ;  he  has  not  usually  destroyed  his  bodily 
power  by  sexual  excess,  it  is  true,  but  he  has  often 
undermined  his  energy  for  work  of  originality.  If 
he  is  an  advanced  pervert,  his  immunity  from  the 
bodily  effects  of  sexual  perversion  may  be  the 
greatest  danger  to  the  weaker  boys,  to  whom  he 
recommends  his  immoral  and  apparently  successful 
life.  Since  sexual  excess  can  be  indulged  in  by  many 
athletic  boys  without  any  obvious  result,  the  very 
athlete  who  is  the  pride  of  his  head  master  may 
be  a  living  incentive  to  other  boys  to  copy  the 


84       THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

worst  part  of  his  character.  The  Greeks  understood 
the  relation  between  immorality  and  athleticism  far 
better  than  we  do,  and  to-day  the  athletic,  but  per- 
verted boy,  is  a  type  misunderstood  by  many  school- 
masters. Athletics  are  often  the  sign  of  a  healthy 
and  moral  adolescent,  but  the  sports  and  games 
of  our  schools  to-day  are  of  a  kind  to  encourage  the 
worst  evils  of  the  trained  athlete,  and  not  the  spon- 
taneous development  of  the  adolescent  who,  by 
intuition  rather  than  design,  performs  the  feats  for 
which  his  growing  individuality  longs. 

I  do  not  for  a  moment  pretend  that  cricket  and 
football  elevens  consist  of  the  worst  boys  in  the 
school  or  college,  but  it  is  quite  possible,  and,  with 
our  present  ideal  of  athletics,  even  probable,  that 
they  may  be  so.  Our  schoolmasters,  ignorant  as 
they  often  are  of  the  science  of  adolescence,  forget 
that  the  hopeless  sexual  pervert  pictured  by  the 
moralists  is  not,  as  a  rule,  the  greatest  danger  to  be 
guarded  against ;  he  seldom  exists,  and  when  he 
does,  I  think  his  presence  is  rather  a  wholesome  than 
an  unhealthy  example ;  there  is  more  than  sufficient 
health  and  morality  in  most  adolescents  to  shun 
such  an  obviously  bad  example. 

It  is  the  slightly  pathological  boy  who  does  not 
suffer  by  his  excess  who  is  the  dangerous  factor  in 
our  schools ;  it  is  he  who  often  preaches  his  perver- 
sion to  others  less  able  to  stand  the  results  of  sexual 
excesses.  By  his  continued  athleticism  he  keeps  his 
body  in  health,  but  this  only  makes  him  a  more 
dangerous  example  to  the  weaker  members  of  the 
school.  Sexual  excesses  often  produce  a  quasi- 
healthy  desire  for  exercise,  and  the  exercise  is  sue- 


IMMORALITY  AND  SEXUAL  PATHOLOGY         85 

ceeded  by  an  increased  desire  for  sexual  excess. 
To  the  pervert  any  bodily  sensation — even  the  touch 
of  a  piece  of  cold  metal  on  the  bare  arm — increases, 
and  does  not  decrease,  the  feeling  of  energy,  and  there 
is  to  the  masochist  a  stimulating  effect  in  the  most 
painful  emotion  of  torture.  This  vicious  circle  of 
excess  and  exercise  may  continue  for  long  periods  at 
a  time,  and,  under  the  cover  of  athletic  prowess,  may 
do  untold  harm  to  other  adolescents.  In  the  keen 
and  enthusiastic  supporters  of  athletics  we  find,  as 
a  rule,  men  who  have  glanced  only  superficially  at 
a  subject  which  requires  the  deepest  possible 
study. 

Conclusion. — Before  passing  from  a  consideration 
of  the  methods  of  those  masters  who  advocate  per- 
petual control  of  occupations,  dogmatic  teaching  of 
religion,  and  forced  mental  and  bodily  exercise,  as 
a  cure  for  adolescent  perversion,  we  should  consider 
whether  the  adolescent,  who  is  the  ideal  pupil  of 
these  moral  reformers,  is  from  statistics  usually  a 
good  moral  influence  in  the  school.  Do  we  find 
in  school  life  that  the  immoral  boy  is  slack  at 
his  work,  and  is  a  failure  in  the  athletic  games 
and  sports  at  school  ?  If  we  find  that  he  is  all 
that  these  reformers  desire,  and  yet  a  moral  pervert 
and  a  bad  influence  in  the  school,  then  we  must 
discover  some  other  regime  than  that  proposed  by 
these  moralists. 

Statistics  have  been  easy  to  compile  on  this 
subject,  because  such  a  large  amount  of  schools  in 
England  still  rely  on  these  three  influences  to  estab- 
lish a  wholesome  tone  during  adolescence.  I  have 
collected  a  very  considerable  number  of  cases  of  boys 


86       THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

who  were  subjected  to  this  treatment  of  control, 
athletics,  and  religion,  and  who,  nevertheless,  were 
moral  perverts.  They  were  not  boys  who  had  the 
occasional  lapses  perhaps  inseparable  from  sexual 
development,  but  were  all  adolescents  who  suffered 
from  continued  and  marked  perversion,  and  who,  no 
one  would  deny,  were  the  worst  possible  influence 
for  their  companions. 

I  have  assumed  the  fact  that  the  boys  who 
showed  no  great  sign  of  sexual  perversion  showed 
fair  ability,  and  my  statistics  of  the  ability  of  moral 
perverts  are  collected  in  order  to  discover  whether 
perverts  do,  in  fact,  fall  below  the  average,  as  the 
moralists  would  have  us  believe. 

In  the  field  of  athletics  I  divided  the  perverts 
into  three  classes  :  I  called  those  excellent  who  won 
first  prizes  at  the  school  sports,  or  were  included  in 
the  cricket  and  football  elevens  ;  those  good  who 
showed  average  ability  for  athletics,  but  with  no 
strikingly  marked  success ;  and  those  bad  who  signi- 
fied a  decided  dislike  or  disability  for  games.  Of 
the  sexual  perverts  of  whom  I  had  records,  I  dis- 
covered that  no  less  than  50  per  cent,  showed  marked 
ability  at  athletics  and  were  classed  as  excellent, 
50  per  cent,  were  classed  as  good,  and  not  one 
showed  any  marked  dislike  or  disability  for  the 
school  games.  I  admit  that  the  last  fact  is  a  coinci- 
dence, as  there  are  boys  who  suffer  from  a  distinct 
lethargy  produced  by  sexual  perversion ;  but  the 
facts  I  have  collected  show  that  the  standard  of 
athletic  ability  among  sexual  perverts  is  very  dis- 
tinctly above  the  average. 

In  taking  the  same  boys  and  dividing  them  in 


IMMORALITY  AND  SEXUAL  PATHOLOGY         87 

groups  of  comparative  ability  in  school  lessons,  the 
proportions  were  slightly  different,  but  the  general 
result  was  the  same  as  in  athletic  prowess.  For 
this  purpose  I  classed  boys  who,  at  fourteen  or 
fifteen,  obtained  a  public-school  scholarship  as  excel- 
lent ;  I  classed  boys  who  were  well  up  to  the 
standard  of  their  class  as  average,  and  the  rest  as 
inferior.  Of  the  moral  perverts  of  which  I  had 
statistics,  I  discovered  that  no  less  than  55  per  cent, 
were  excellent,  and  were  successful  in  competitive 
examinations  for  scholarships  at  fourteen.  Slightly 
over  33  per  cent,  showed  average  ability,  and  11  per 
cent,  failed  to  keep  up  to  the  required  standard  of  work. 
Intellectual  ability  and  interest  in  studies  which  had 
been  set  by  others  did  not  apparently  keep  the 
majority  of  these  perverts  from  immoral  activity. 

Having  collected  these  statistics  of  moral  perverts, 
I  attempted  to  draw  up  a  further  table  showing  the 
adult  ability  of  these  adolescents.  My  task  was 
a  more  difficult  one,  as  adult  ability  and  success  are 
greatly  a  matter  of  degree  and  of  personal  opinion  : 
there  are  no  football  elevens  and  competitive  ex- 
aminations in  after-life.  Among  the  statistics  of 
the  adult  life  of  these  adolescent  perverts,  I  found 
that  not  one,  so  far  as  I  knew,  had  gone  to  an  asylum 
or  ended  in  conspicuous  disaster  ;  but,  at  the  same 
time,  not  one  had  achieved  any  very  marked  success, 
and  although  their  adolescent  ability  had  appeared  so 
very  much  above  the  normal,  83  per  cent,  were 
leading  mediocre  and  very  average  lives ;  while 
17  per  cent.,  although  outwardly  sound  in  mind  and 
body,  were  living  in  a  conspicuously  wasteful  and 
uncertain  manner. 


88       THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

The  general  result  of  these  statistics  seems  to  show 
clearly  that  the  adolescent  pervert  is  not  marked  by 
any  mental  or  physical  weakness,  but  rather  the 
reverse.  The  sad,  dejected  look  which  the  moralists 
picture  to  us  is  conspicuous  by  its  absence  ;  he  is 
often  an  athletic  and  distinctly  intelligent  young 
person,  and  his  future  career  is  noticeable  rather  for 
its  failure  to  carry  out  adolescent  promise  than  for 
any  sudden  or  dramatic  disaster.  The  pervert's 
mental  and  bodily  abilities,  so  distinctly  above  the 
average  during  the  early  years  of  adolescence,  seem 
to  have  spent  their  strength  in  youthful  excesses, 
and  usually  sink  to  a  conspicuous  mediocrity  in 
after-life.  Nature  seems  to  show  her  resentment, 
not  by  turning  against  the  pervert,  but  merely  by 
refraining  from  giving  more  than  a  modest  share  of 
what  she  at  first  promised  abundantly.  The  well- 
known  cases  in  which  adult  perversion  is  discovered 
to  be  combined  with  high  mental  ability  are  probably 
few  compared  with  the  numberless  cases  of  perver- 
sion in  which  potential  genius  has  been  reduced  to 
mediocrity.  Our  natural  interest  in  genius  leads  us 
to  discover  all  its  abnormalities,  whereas  the  perver- 
sions of  the  wastrel  often  go  unnoticed. 

Our  conclusions  on  the  subject  of  what  we  may 
term  the  conservative  method  of  moral  development 
are  clear.  If  we  trained  every  schoolboy  to  be  a 
first-rate  athlete  and  an  industrious  scholar,  we 
should  not  necessarily  have  a  wholesome  moral  tone  ; 
morality  and  adolescent  success  are  not  allied  in  the 
close  way  we  used  to  suppose.  Perpetual  control 
by  either  religious  dogma  or  personal  supervision  is 
impossible,  and  when  we  try  to  achieve  it  the 


IMMORALITY  AND  SEXUAL  PATHOLOGY         89 

adolescent  finds  plenty  of  opportunity  for  studying 
and  practising  the  activities  he  really  desires.  The 
spirited  boy  is  not  withheld  from  perversion  by  the 
threats  of  an  avenging  Deity.  Deism  of  all  sorts  is 
strange  to  youth,  and  the  picture  of  the  metaphysical 
avenger  fails  hopelessly  to  control  the  passions  of 
adolescence.  If  we  allow  an  open  outlet  to  the  love 
of  secret  occupations  and  personal  investigation,  the 
adolescent  will  surprise  us  by  his  desire  for  healthy 
pursuits  and  wholesome  studies ;  if  we  attempt  to 
control  his  life  every  hour  of  the  day,  and  plan  out 
for  him  all  his  work  and  play,  we  shall  drive  the 
adolescent  to  the  most  perverted  pursuits  which 
a  narrow  and  cramped  mind  can  devise. 

THE  RATIONAL  METHOD. — The  second  method  of 
reform  may  be  called  the  rational  method,  not 
because  it  appeals  to  the  reason  of  the  adult — it 
often  does  not — but  because  the  method  is  based  on 
the  idea  that  the  healthy  adolescent  is  a  rational 
rather  than  a  moral  being,  and  that  he  will  often  be 
guided  by  his  own  reasonable  mind,  when  external 
discipline  and  religious  dogma  will  fail  to  influence 
him.  The  theory  is  far  from  new,  and  its  exponents 
of  last  century  only  tried  to  instil  into  contemporary 
minds  thoughts  on  education  as  old  as  mankind. 
Some  maintain  that  when  tried  it  always  succeeds  ; 
others,  that  it  is  usually  a  failure  ;  even  its  strongest 
opponents  must,  however,  admit  that  many  of  its 
failures  might  have  been  successes  if  the  child  from 
its  earliest  years  had  been  allowed  a  feeling  of  reason 
and  responsibility,  and  had  been  less  controlled  by 
the  influence  of  the  physical  force  and  the  moral 


90       THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

dogmas  of  others.  If  the  adolescent  has  been 
brought  up  by  the  conservative  method  of  perpetual 
control,  we  must  naturally  be  careful  in  applying 
a  more  modern  method,  since  we  have  an  individual 
in  whom  the  desire,  both  for  evil  and  good  self- 
expression  has  been  unwholesomely  suppressed. 
But  even  with  these  we  should  not  be  too  frightened 
of  consequences  to  alter  our  system  of  education  and 
lessen  our  control.  The  adult  will  be  free  in  time, 
and  the  consequences  of  experimenting  with  his 
liberty  will  probably  be  less  disastrous  if  we  allow 
a  few  mistakes  in  the  exercise  of  freedom  during 
adolescence. 

At  present  the  rationalists  lay  great  stress  on 
three  points  in  the  education  of  the  adolescent.  The 
first  is  the  principle  of  leaving  the  dictation  both  in 
work  and  play  as  far  as  possible  to  the  boy  or  girl, 
and  to  allow  a  far  wider  range  of  study  than  is  at 
present  permitted.  The  second  is  the  full,  honest, 
and  open  teaching  of  all  matters  concerning  sex, 
about  which  every  adolescent  is  bound  to  be  curious, 
and  about  which  full  knowledge  alone  can  satisfy. 
The  third  is  the  teaching  of  civic  life  and  social 
ideals  to  all  boys  and  girls,  and,  by  establishing  a 
system  of  almost  complete  self-government  in  every 
school,  to  prepare  for  civil  life  and  communal  ideas. 
No  one  can  fail  to  realize  how  closely  these  three 
principles  are  bound  together  by  the  desire  for  a 
rational  adolescent  and,  later  on,  a  rational  adult 
citizen. 

Self- Initiation  in  Work  and  Play. — I  need  not 
dwell  here  on  the  importance  of  an  educational 
programme  desired  by  the  adolescent,  and  not 


IMMORALITY  AND  SEXUAL  PATHOLOGY         91 

ordered  by  the  adult.  If  boys  in  one  school  like 
cricket,  arid  in  another  they  do  not,  what  matter, 
if  each  are  developing  what  is  best  in  them  ;  if  in 
one  school  Latin  is  popular,  and  in  another  engineer- 
ing, what  matter,  provided  its  scholars  are  satisfying 
their  innate  desire  for  knowledge.  There  are  some 
who  pretend  that  no  boy  or  girl  will  work  during 
adolescence,  that  they  are  at  heart  idle  and  inactive 
if  left  alone.  It  is  true  that  the  adolescent  will  not 
work  at  a  task  which  does  not  interest  him  unless  he 
is  compelled  to,  but  the  suggestion  that  the  adoles- 
cent has  no  desire  for  work,  no  craving  for  know- 
ledge, if  we  allow  a  free  and  open  choice  in  his 
activities,  is  a  lie,  which  can  at  once  be  revealed  by 
experiment.  Boys  and  girls  are  avid  of  experience  ; 
they  wish  to  learn,  but  they  shun  dogmatic  instruc- 
tion. When  masters  exist  to  satisfy  boys,  and  not 
boys  to  satisfy  masters,  we  shall  see  that  the  innate 
idleness  of  adolescence  is  practically  non-existent. 
The  slackness  has  been  rather  on  our  side  ;  we  have 
studied  education  lightly,  and  have  seldom  faced  the 
real  facts  of  human  development.  We  have  chosen 
to  ignore  the  surging  forces  which  crave  for  expres- 
sion during  adolescence. 

Every  healthy  adolescent  is  possessed  by  a  feeling 
of  growing  importance,  a  glory  in  his  powers  of 
bodily  activity,  a  delight  in  his  ability  to  investigate 
arid  discover.  It  rests  with  us  whether  we  allow 
these  feelings  free  development,  or  turn  them  into  a 
sense  of  worthlessness  and  shame.  The  organized 
work  and  play  which  we  think  satisfies  our  adoles- 
cent's energy  often  suppresses  the  self-confidence 
and  desire  for  individuality  which  he  feels. 


92       THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

External  control  at  our  schools  is  perhaps  a 
necessity,  but  it  is  a  necessity  greatly  exaggerated. 
If  we  are  to  prevent  the  spirit  which  seeks  to  explore 
from  following  a  perverted  track,  we  must  allow 
a  freedom  of  play  and  study  which  affords  as  much 
excitement  and  display  of  personal  feeling  as  the 
most  immoral  practices  of  the  sexual  pervert.  It  is 
only  by  permitting  absorbing  and  self-initiated 
pursuits  that  the  present  waste  and  perversion  of 
adolescent  enthusiasm  can  ever  be  turned  to  healthy 
and  profitable  advantage. 

Sexual  Instruction. — The  second  principle  of 
what  we  have  called  the  rational  method  of  reform 
is  closely  allied  to  the  first ;  if  our  adolescents  are  to 
be  allowed  to  reason  for  themselves,  and  to  a  great 
extent  govern  themselves,  they  must  know  the  facts 
of  life  as  they  exist ;  sanity  rests  on  the  recognition 
of  an  abnormality  rather  than  in  the  absence  of  the 
abnormal.  To  all  adolescents  questions  of  sex  must, 
and  always  will,  be  of  great  interest ;  to  the  properly 
instructed  the  laws  of  sexual  development  are  well- 
known  and  fully  realized  facts  ;  to  the  ignorant  or 
partially  instructed  they  are  full  of  mysterious 
temptation. 

The  student  of  adolescence  knows  that  in  the 
question  of  sexual  instruction  the  choice  is  not 
between  the  granting  or  withholding  of  knowledge  ; 
it  is  between  healthy  open  teaching  or  evil  and  dis- 
torted instruction.  If  schoolmasters  and  parents 
omit  this  part  of  their  work,  they  have  not  left  the 
boy  or  girl  innocent  or  uninstructed :  they  have 
merely  tacitly  passed  on  the  teaching  of  these  sub- 
jects to  chance,  and  probably  evil,  companions. 


IMMORALITY  AND  SEXUAL  PATHOLOGY    93 

The  chief  plea  of  those  who  would  refrain  from 
teaching  the  laws  of  sex  to  the  adolescent  is  that 
instruction  in  these  matters  would  concentrate 
attention  on  them  at  a  time  when  the  less  attention 
they  receive  the  better.  Their  argument  is  good, 
and  would  be  a  final  one  if  concentration  did  not 
already  exist ;  concentration  and  attention  on 
matters  of  sex  during  adolescence  will  always  exist, 
and  people  who  fear  any  instruction  are  but  turning 
what  might  be  a  wholesome,  open,  and  natural 
attention  into  a  secret  and  evil  concentration,  equally 
strong,  and  often  perverted.  Whatever  our  method 
of  education,  matters  of  sex  will  always  have  a  charm 
and  interest  during  adolescence,  but  the  present 
perversion  and  immorality  is  an  artificial  product  of 
our  plan  of  secrecy. 

Besides  the  natural  feelings  of  his  dawning  sexual 
desires,  the  adolescent  is  at  present  quite  unnaturally 
driven  to  a  perverted  concentration  on  these  matters 
by  three  important  factors.  The  unsatiated  curiosity 
on  a  matter  of  overwhelming  interest  makes  sexual 
matters  always  a  field  for  inquiry  and  speculation. 
The  fact  that  this  is  the  only  subject  in  which  he 
can  pursue  secret  and  independent  inquiry,  and  in 
which  he  can  find  out  facts  from  experience  and  not 
from  class  instruction,  makes  it  unique  and  adven- 
turous beyond  all  others ;  and,  thirdly,  the  fact  that 
we  have  enveloped  all  sexual  matters  in  an  atmos- 
phere of  wickedness  and  vice  gives  the  adolescent  a 
feeling  of  manly  glory  in  imparting  facts  which  he 
believes  are  fundamentally  vicious,  and  which  he 
knows  everyone  is  interested  in.  In  those  few  but 
precious  minutes  in  the  day  when  the  adolescent  is 


94       THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

left  free  from  control  his  mind  immediately  wanders 
to  the  mysterious,  the  absorbing,  and  the  wicked. 
We  have  made  sex  mysterious  by  allowing  curiosity 
to  go  unsatiated ;  we  have  made  it  absorbing  by 
allowing  this  to  be  the  only  subject  in  which  free 
inquiry  and  independent  learning  can  be  pursued  ; 
and  we  have  made  it  wicked  because  in  our  folly  we 
thought  that  wickedness  had  no  attraction  for  the 
young. 

Even  with  the  skilful  help  of  the  professional 
schoolmaster,  we  shall  probably  never  be  able  to 
make  sexual  instruction  as  dull  and  as  lifeless  as 
we  have  made  classics,  history,  and  mathematics ; 
but  even  if  the  hours  devoted  to  these  most  important 
truths  are  a  little  less  dull  than  the  other  lessons, 
they  will  still  be  a  lesson  for  all  that,  and  will  at 
once  take  up  a  different  position  in  the  mind  of  the 
schoolboy.  When  we  teach  our  adolescents  even 
more  than  they  desire  to  know  in  this  matter,  not 
only  will  the  joy  of  a  secret  study  be  gone  for  ever, 
but  they  will  experience  that  feeling  of  satiety  which 
is  the  best  cure  for  sexual  concentration,  and  our 
boys  and  girls  will  learn  from  wholesome  and  ex- 
perienced teachers  what  they  now  only  talk  of  with 
their  most  evil  companions. 

There  are  cases  occasionally  of  close  friendships 
where  the  truths  of  sex  are  discussed  decently  and 
confidentially,  but  such  instances  are  rare  in  our 
large  boarding  schools.  The  discussion  of  sexual 
questions  is  almost  entirely  confined  to  the  moral 
pervert,  whose  joy  is  not  in  confidential  conversa- 
tions with  a  few,  but  in  imparting  perverted  sexual 
knowledge  to  any  and  all  of  his  school  companions. 


IMMORALITY  AND  SEXUAL  PATHOLOGY         95 

It  is  this  general  delight  in  loose  conversations  and 
sexual  acts  which  is  the  surest  sign  of  perversion 
both  in  the  adolescent  and  the  adult. 

In  the  preparation  of  this  chapter  I  have  heard 
and  read  the  opinions  of  many  who  have  instructed 
adolescents  in  the  details  of  sexual  development, 
and  I  have  not  met  with  one  who  has  failed  to 
assure  me  that  the  more  the  adolescent  was  told, 
the  wholesomer  became  his  views.  The  extreme 
pleasure  and  delight,  or  the  excessive  pain  and  dis- 
gust, both  so  near  akin,  and  so  marked  and  dangerous 
a  characteristic  of  those  unenlightened  in  these 
matters,  seemed  slowly  but  surely  to  fade  away,  and 
although  interest  remained,  it  was  wholesome,  open, 
and  unashamed. 

There  is  a  State  in  the  American  Union  in  which 
education  in  the  laws  of  sex  is  compulsory,  but  I  do 
not  think  that  by  compulsion  we  can  deal  with  this 
serious  question  in  England.  Our  children  in  some 
respects  reflect  the  heart  of  the  nation,  and  as  long 
as  parents  are  ignorant  and  ashamed  of  sexual 
matters,  so  long  will  their  children  dwell  in  an 
atmosphere  at  school  of  shame  and  ignorance. 
Before  any  large  step  can  be  taken  in  this  direction 
public  sentiment  must  be  educated,  and  the  nation's 
attitude  towards  sexual  matters  cleansed  and  ration- 
alized. In  a  school  in  America  there  is  a  full-sized 
picture  of  a  boy,  well  developed  and  beautiful  in 
every  way,  but  blind ;  underneath  is  written  :  "  This 
boy  was  born  blind  because  of  ignorance."  In  Eng- 
land we  still  allow  our  boys  and  girls  to  be  born 
blind,  and  some  young  men  to  be  ruined  in  health 
before  they  reach  their  prime,  for  the  want  of  a  few 


96        THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

words  of  advice  and  sexual  instruction ;  the  sacrifice 
of  a  little  of  our  modesty,  a  little  personal  discomfort 
for  half  an  hour,  is  too  dear  a  price  for  us  to  pay. 

The  educationists  who  object  to  sexual  instruc- 
tion on  the  ground  of  increased  concentration  and 
precocity  are  inexperienced  or  superficial  students 
of  adolescence.  The  policy  of  silence  has  existed  quite 
long  enough  to  show  us  its  results,  and  already  we 
have  some  very  striking  testimonies  of  what  a  little 
class  teaching  or  individual  instruction  can  accomplish. 
There  is,  of  course,  a  personal  element  in  the  matter 
which  is  of  great  importance  ;  our  masters  and  boys 
will  necessarily  be  brought  into  closer  and  more 
intimate  contact.  But  this  can  only  be  viewed 
with  satisfaction ;  anything  which  tends  to  form 
wholesome  friendships  between  masters  and  boys 
can  do  nothing  but  good,  and  when  sexual  teaching- 
forms  part  of  the  school  regime,  head  masters  will 
have  an  indisputable  reason  for  choosing  their  masters 
far  more  carefully  than  they  do  at  present. 

There  are  some  who  say  that  boys  in  the  same 
class  are  not  always  at  the  same  stage  of  adolescent 
development,  and  that  instruction  in  class  might  be 
prejudicial  to  the  more  backward  boys.  This  is,  of 
course,  an  objection  which  applies  to  the  study  of 
any  subject  by  a  large  class,  but  I  do  not  think  that 
boys  in  the  same  class  vary  to  a  sufficient  degree  to 
make  sexual  instruction  a  real  danger.  Adolescent 
development  is  not  marked  by  such  very  clearly 
defined  stages  that  any  serious  evil  would  come  to 
the  boys  who  were  slightly  more  backward  than 
their  fellows. 

In  our  large  boarding  schools  as  they  exist  to-day 


IMMORALITY  AND  SEXUAL  PATHOLOGY         97 

sexual  instruction  would  begin  in  an  atmosphere 
often  saturated  with  perversion,  but  even  so  I  think 
knowledge  would  be  better  than  ignorance.  If, 
however,  sexual  instruction  could  be  started  in  a 
school  at  the  same  time  as  a  more  liberal  regime, 
which  allowed  a  greater  scope  for  self-realization 
and  self-expression  in  wholesome  ways,  I  think  that 
immorality  would  fade  away  in  a  manner  almost 
incredible. 

Social  ^Duties  and  Civic  Life.  —  The  third  and 
last  principle  of  the  rational  educationists  is  a 
belief  in  the  teaching,  both  in  theory  and  practice, 
of  civil  duties  and  social  life. 

If  the  school  had  not  for  so  many  ages  been 
unnaturally  divorced  from  the  outside  world,  a  plea 
for  the  instruction  in  social  duties  and  civic  life 
would  hardly  be  necessary.  To-day,  however,  with 
the  exception  of  the  day  boarder,  who  does  his  ei*en- 
ing  work  at  home,  there  is  practically  no  connection 
between  the  school  work  of  the  adolescent  and  the 
responsibilities  and  interests  of  the  outside  world. 
In  Japan  the  adolescent  is  taught  five  things  :  his 
duty  towards  himself,  his  duty  towards  his  family, 
his  duty  towards  society,  his  duty  towards  humanity, 
his  duty  towards  nature.  In  English  schools  we 
teach  our  boys  and  girls  the  necessity  rather  than 
the  duty  of  obedience  to  the  powers  that  be.  The 
duty  to  self  we  generally  ignore  ;  family  life  does 
not  exist,  and  the  social  conditions  of  our  large 
boarding  schools  have  so  little  in  common  with  the 
outside  world  that  a  dutiful  feeling  towards  them 
would  be  a  doubtful  asset  when  the  adolescent 
becomes  the  adult. 

7 


98       THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

A  detailed  description  of  a  school  system  founded 
on  the  principles  of  self-government  and  forming 
a  complete  republic  in  itself  is  outside  the  scope  of 
this  book.  In  America  the  Junior  Republics  have 
been  carried  on  with  complete  success,  and  the 
lowest  types  of  criminal  adolescent,  for  whom  one 
would  consider  self-government  an  impossibility,  have 
by  its  means  been  adapted  for  the  large  republic 
which  exists  outside  the  school. 

Although  I  have  not  the  detailed  knowledge  to 
enter  into  the  actual  management  which  is  necessary 
for  a  self-governing  school,  it  may  be  useful  to  note, 
in  passing,  a  few  of  the  influences  of  such  a  system, 
some  of  which  already  exist  in  schools  where  self- 
government  is  beginning  to  be  taught. 

The  basis  of  the  self-governing  colony  is  that 
liberty  is  the  best  training  for  a  right  use  of  liberty  ; 
the  limitations  of  the  liberty  of  the  schoolboy  in  such 
a  colony  are,  as  far  as  possible,  identical  with  the 
limitations  which  will  exist  in  after-life.  "  When  we 
view  the  self-governed  and  the  master-governed 
school,"  says  Professor  Sadler,  "there  is  little  doubt 
which  prepares  the  adolescent  best  for  his  future." 
Crimes  and  punishments  are  treated  as  more  real 
and  with  more  genuine  respect  when  the  boys  are 
themselves  the  law-makers  and  the  law-adminis- 
trators, and  flagrant  cases  of  disorder  meet  with 
prompt  and  whole-hearted  condemnation.  The  morals 
are  formed  by  the  community,  not  by  unconstitu- 
tional tyrants  who  rule  as  masters,  and  the  respect 
for  the  laws  of  a  self-governing  community  is  seldom 
lost  sight  of  in  after-life.  Laws  of  hygiene  are 
part  of  the  civic  code  of  the  community,  and  con- 


IMMORALITY  AND  SEXUAL  PATHOLOGY         99 

front  the  adolescent  in  the  details  of  his  life ;  in  this 
way  good  habits  become  a  part  of  the  daily  life  of 
the  school,  and  questions  of  hygiene  are  saved  from 
the  almost  inevitable  dry  ness  which  attaches  to  a 
lecture  or  lesson.  The  fact  that  all  studies  centre, 
directly  or  indirectly,  round  the  well-being  of  the 
school  community  causes  a  real  unity  of  purpose, 
which  is  sadly  lacking  in  most  of  our  school  studies. 
Knowledge  is  as  far  as  possible  used  practically  as 
soon  as  it  is  gained,  and  dry  and  uninteresting  sub- 
jects often  obtain  a  reflected  interest  from  the  use 
to  which  they  may  be  turned  in  one  of  the  many 
duties  of  the  civic  school  life. 

The  care  of  money  which  Lord  Lytton  has  so 
often  advocated  for  the  young,  and  which  has  been 
found  so  important  in  the  reformation  of  the 
criminal  in  America,  is  also  an  important  factor 
in  the  life  of  the  adolescent  colony,  and  some 
craftsmen  especially  gifted  in  particular  industries 
become  miniature  millionaires  in  selling  the  fruits 
of  their  industry  to  others,  who  in  their  turn  make 
further  use  of  them.  The  scenery-painter  sells  his 
wares  to  the  shooting-saloon  keeper,  and  he  in  turn 
offers  a  good  range  and  the  chance  of  a  prize  for 
those  who  patronize  his  gallery.  In  some  of  our 
large  preparatory  schools  where  pocket-money  is 
not  allowed,  the  trading  instincts  of  the  boys  have 
overcome  the  restrictions,  and  the  bartering  of 
skill  and  of  commodities  for  sweets  is  common.  It 
is,  however,  difficult  to  see  the  good  of  introducing 
the  factor  of  bodily  greed  into  the  free  interchange 
of  skill  and  money. 

The   importance  of  the  early  experience  of  the 


100     THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

administration  of  property  can  hardly  be  exaggerated, 
and  with  the  administration  of  an  income,  however 
small,  the  results  of  thrift  or  recklessness  are  shown 
far  more  forcibly  than  by  the  abstract  ethics  of  the 
enthusiastic  moralist. 

History  in  the  self-governed  school  is  studied 
practically  and  sociologically,  and  its  morals  are 
applied  to  the  problems  of  the  school  government. 
The  position  of  the  policeman  in  the  street,  and 
of  the  beggar  or  ne'er-do-weel  who  drifts  lower  and 
lower  until  he  can  do  nothing,  but  asks  for  alms, 
are  both  fully  realized  by  the  self-governing  mem- 
bers of  the  George  Junior  Republic.  It  does  not 
require  much  imagination  to  realize  that  the  boy 
or  girl,  daily  discussing  in  the  school  Parliament 
the  problem  of  the  unemployable,  is  unlikely  to 
become  a  vagrant  when  he  or  she  passes  into  the 
enlarged  but  similar  conditions  outside  the  school. 
For  all  classes  of  the  community  the  value  of  the 
experiences  of  such  a  school  can  hardly  be  over- 
estimated. 

Professor  Forel,  who  in  his  book  on  the  sexual 
question  advocates  strongly  the  Landerziehungs- 
heime,  lays  great  stress  on  social  ideas  and 
ideals  in  training  the  individual's  sexual  instincts, 
especially  when  these  are  of  a  markedly  selfish  or 
antisocial  nature.  In  sexual  misdemeanour  espe- 
cially it  appears  advisable  that  the  delinquents 
should  be  tried  by  those  whose  own  struggles  are 
still  fresh  in  their  memories,  and  who  view  the 
crime  rather  in  the  light  of  a  danger  to  the 
community  than  with  a  blind  desire  for  revenge. 
Many  have  suggested  that  boys  in  the  position  of 


IMMORALITY  AND  SEXUAL  TATHOLOGY       101 

Judge  and  jury  would  allow  personal  feelings  to 
dominate  abstract  ideas  of  right  and  wrong,  and 
would  show  a  feeling  of  undue  severity  or  sym- 
pathy in  their  various  trials.  I  have  been  assured, 
however,  by  those  who  have  had  much  experience 
of  self-governing  schools  that  this  is  not  so,  and 
that  boys  are  only  too  anxious  to  show  their 
masters,  who  are  present  as  onlookers,  that  they  are 
worthy  of  their  responsible  position,  and  have  fair, 
well-balanced,  and  honourable  minds. 

It  is,  of  course,  essential  to  the  self-governing 
school  that  the  establishment  should  include  boys 
of  all  ages,  and  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  this  is 
an  advantage.  Arnold's  reasons  for  a  change  of 
school  at  fourteen  were,  I  think,  temporary  ones, 
due  to  the  conditions  that  then  existed,  and  if  he 
lived  to-day  his  views  would  probably  have  been 
considerably  modified. 

Apart  from  the  question  of  self-government,  the 
mixing  of  boys  of  all  ages  has  in  many  respects 
a  widening  influence  on  the  school  life  ;  the  constant 
intercourse  between  boys  of  different  ages  gives 
a  truer  realization  of  the  diverse  phases  of  humanity, 
and  suppresses  the  idea  pften  common  at  the  large 
boarding  school  that  everyone  is  a  fool  who  is 
either  older  or  younger  than  the  members  of  the 
school  community.  School  patriotism  is  truer  and 
nobler  if  the  school  consists  of  boys  of  all  ages,  and 
many  of  our  newest  and  best  schools  in  England 
are  already  including  boys  from  eight  to  eighteen. 

Formerly,  when  bullying  was  one  of  the  most 
conspicuous  phases  of  school  life,  the  younger 
boys  used  to  suffer  at  the  large  boarding  schools, 


\  :  '  : 

T02      THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

but  to-day,  when  the  dangers  of  school  life  are 
more  subtle  and  less  related  to  actual  violence, 
there  is  less  need  for  the  separation  of  the  pre- 
paratory from  the  public  school.  At  present  both 
suffer  alike  from  sexual  perversion  and  immorality, 
and  there  is  little  to  suggest  that  uniting  the  two 
would  increase  the  present  evils.  The  evil  influence 
of  older  boys  on  younger  is  more  a  theory  than 
a  fact  ;  the  devil  finds  plenty  of  disciples  among 
boys  of  all  ages,  and  I  think  age  plays  a  less 
conspicuous  part  than  many  people  suppose.  No 
great  friendships,  either  for  bad  or  good,  would 
probably  occur  between  the  boys  of  different  ages, 
and  the  slight  intercourse  between  the  two  would 
probably  promote  nothing  but  a  wider  sympathy. 
The  danger  of  corruption  can  hardly  be  greater  than 
at  present  exists  in  our  schools,  where  the  separation 
of  younger  and  older  adolescents  almost  universally 
exists.  If  the  preparatory  and  public  schools  were 
united,  the  liability  to  moral  perversion  would 
certainly  not  be  all  on  the  side  of  the  younger  boys, 
for  there  are  many  instances  of  the  most  extreme 
perversions  being  introduced  into  a  community  of 
adolescents  by  its  youngest  members. 

I  think  one  may  safely  come  to  the  conclusion 
that  anything  which  favours  the  self-government  of 
the  school  will,  as  a  rule,  also  favour  an  open  and 
healthy  tone  of  thought,  a  sense  of  social  realization, 
and  that  wide  sympathy  and  understanding  which 
is  so  essential  in  our  present  complex  state  of 
civilization.  Disadvantages  and  difficulties  self- 
government  may  possess,  and  the  tasks  of  the 
schoolmasters  will  be  subtler  and  more  indirect, 


IMMORALITY  AND  SEXUAL  PATHOLOGY       103 

but  they  will  not  outweigh  the  disadvantages  and 
failures  of  our  present  system  of  despotic  school 
government. 

Well  may  one  wish  that  a  little  of  the  psycho- 
logical study  and  deep  interest  which  has  lately 
been  given  in  America  and  elsewhere  to  the  ado- 
lescent criminal  might  be  given  to  the  sexual 
perversion  which  pervades  the  majority  of  our 
large  boarding  schools  in  England.  It  is  indeed 
an  anomaly  of  the  times  that,  while  the  excesses  of 
our  criminal  classes  are  being  investigated,  studied, 
and  even  cured,  the  vices  and  perversions  of  the 
flower  of  our  adolescents  are  allowed  to  continue 
under  that  curious  paraphernalia  of  wealth  and 
tradition  which  used  to  be  the  privilege  and  is  now 
the  curse  of  our  aristocracy. 

CO-EDUCATION. — We  have  discussed  the  conserva- 
tive method  which  relies  on  restriction  and  discipline, 
and  the  rational  method  which  believes  in  liberty 
and  a  sense  of  free  responsibility.  We  have  seen 
that  the  principles  of  the  first  were  based  on 
perpetual  control,  dogmatic  religion,  and  athletic 
training,  and  that  the  second  method  depended  on 
self-reliance,  sexual  instruction,  and  the  teaching  of 
the  principles  of  civic  life  and  social  duties.  The 
third  great  remedy  for  the  evils  of  our  present 
system  is  co  -  education.  A  few  years  ago  its 
supporters  were  advocating  a  theory  which  few 
had  tried,  and  which  seemed  to  most  a  mere 
fairy-tale  :  to-day  its  advocates  are  talking  of  what 
they  know,  and  preaching  a  theory  of  education 
which  in  many  places  has  been  tried  and  adopted. 


104     THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

We  will  at  once  deal  with  the  two  chief  criticisms 
which  have  been  launched  against  co-education. 
The  first  is  that  the  education  of  boys  and  girls 
together  produces  sexual  precocity,  premature  love, 
and  early  marriage  ;  the  second,  that  it  nullifies  the 
natural  feelings  of  admiration  between  the  sexes, 
hinders  love  and  romance,  and  prevents  marriages 
in  after-life.  If  any  additional  evidence  were  needed 
that  co-education  produced  normal,  well-balanced 
feelings  between  the  sexes,  surely  it  might  be  found 
in  the  diametrically  opposite  views  which  its  critics 
adopt. 

All  criticism  contains  a  germ  of  truth,  and  it  may 
be  that  among  some  adolescents  sexual  precocity 
is  produced  by  mixed  schools.  The  proposition  is 
denied  by  almost  all  who  have  had  experience  of 
them,  but  even  if  such  cases  do  occur  they  must 
surely  fade  into  insignificance  when  compared  with 
the  widespread  homosexuality  which  the  present 
system  of  sex  segregation  presents  to  us.  It  may  be 
also,  as  some  authorities  in  America  have  contended, 
that  the  grown  product  of  the  mixed  school  does  not 
marry  so  quickly  or  so  readily  as  the  man  or  woman 
who  has  had  less  experience  of  the  opposite  sex. 
But  if  we  consider  the  number  of  unhappy  marriages 
due  to  ignorance  and  almost  pitiful  want  of  know- 
ledge, this  is  surely  a  blessing  in  disguise.  It  will,  I 
think,  take  more  than  a  little  knowledge  of  the  faults 
of  the  opposite  sex  to  prevent  future  generations 
from  marrying  and  bearing  offspring. 

While  men  and  women  worked  apart  in  adult  life, 
the  mixed  school  might  be  thought  an  unnecessary 
and  rather  dangerous  innovation;  but  to-day,  when 


IMMORALITY  AND  SEXUAL  PATHOLOGY       105 

men  and  women  live  and  work  side  by  side  in  almost 
every  profession,  it  has  become  a  practical  necessity 
if  a  decent  relationship  is  to  exist  between  the  two 
sexes.  In  all  the  walks  of  life  men  and  women  are 
coming  into  close  contact  with  each  other  :  on  the 
London  County  Council,  in  the  sweated  factory,  on 
the  committees  of  learned  societies,  and  in  the  small, 
dingy  city  office.  If  we  educate  our  boys  in  what 
are  practically  monasteries  and  our  girls  in  nunneries, 
can  we  expect  them  to  carry  on  a  daily  life  of  decent 
intimacy  with  members  of  the  opposite  sex,  with 
whom  they  have  never  been  in  close  touch  before  ? 
It  is  surely  not  until  we  can  answer  this  question 
unhesitatingly  in  the  affirmative  that  we  should 
raise  a  voice  against  those  who  advocate  co-education. 
Those  who  speak  most  strongly  against  co-educa- 
tion are  very  often  those  who  have  studied  least  the 
pathological  side  of  our  monastic  system  of  education. 
There  is  a  popular  delusion  from  which  all  who  wish 
to  study  education  scientifically  must  free  them- 
selves ;  it  is  the  idea  that  where  there  are  no 
members  of  the  opposite  sex  no  sexual  feelings  arise 
and  no  sexual  excesses  take  place.  No  greater 
fallacy  has  ever  existed  in  the  mind  of  man.  It 
would  be  far  nearer  the  truth  to  affirm  that  where 
no  intercourse  of  healthy  friendship  is  allowed 
between  the  sexes,  there,  and  there  alone,  are  morbid 
desires  and  sexual  perversions  assured.  Under  our 
present  system  we  have  many  establishments  like 
those  so  vividly  described  by  Professor  Forel,  where 
half  the  boys  are  boys  and  the  other  half  are  girls, 
and  where  sexual  instincts  are  released  from  those 
natural  and  wholesome  restraints  which  exist  through- 


106      THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

out  the  world  between  members  of  the  opposite  sex. 
By  our  sex  segregation  we  have  left  sexual  feelings 
as  strong  if  not  stronger  than  ever,  and  have  removed 
that  normal  shyness  and  diffidence  which  has  pre- 
vented civilized  and  uncivilized  races  alike  from  the 
over-indulgence  of  their  sexual  desires. 

Unhampered  by  the  wholesome  shame  which  the 
presence  of  the  opposite  sex  would  produce,  the 
adolescent  pervert  in  the  boys'  school  can  indulge 
his  excessive  desire  to  an  unlimited  extent ;  his 
perversion,  unless  very  exaggerated,  will  allow  him 
to  get  through  his  organized  work  and  play  with 
fair  or  even  considerable  skill,  and  any  want  of 
that  originality  and  brightness  which  is  so  dear  to 
the  opposite  sex  will  be  encouraged  rather  than  con- 
demned by  his  schoolfellows. 

Sexual  desires  are  normal  during  adolescence  ;  the 
homosexuality  of  our  schools  is  abnormal,  and 
essentially  a  product  of  our  present  system  of  sex 
segregation.  There  is  no  doubt  that  we  could 
produce  any  form  of  perversion  among  our  adoles- 
cents if  we  took  such  sure  and  steady  means  as  we 
do  to  produce  homosexuality.  The  foolish  but  none 
the  less  wholesome  attempt  of  boys  and  girls  to  show 
off  their  powers  before  the  opposite  sex  would  be  a 
virtue  compared  to  the  present  state  of  sexual 
feelings  ;  the  fellowship  and  mutual  sense  of  honour 
which  people  who  normally  associate  with  each  other 
sooner  or  later  acquire  would  tend  to  incraase  our 
happy  marriages,  and  would  certainly  lessen  many  o 
the  evils  connected  with  the  selfish  joy  of  the  homo- 
sexual pervert. 

When  we  turn  from  the  co-education  of  boys  and 


IMMOEALITY  AND  SEXUAL  PATHOLOGY       107 

girls  to  the  influence  of  teachers  on  pupils  of  the 
opposite  sex,  we  find  that  the  mixing  of  masters  and 
mistresses  would  also  tend  to  bring  the  present 
overcharged  sexual  atmosphere  of  our  large  boarding 
schools  into  a  more  normal  state.  The  first  great 
change  will  come,  however,  from  allowing  our  masters 
to  marry.  Since  no  under  masters  are  married,  we 
seem  to  fondly  believe  that  they  have  no  sexual 
feelings  whatever,  and  that  this  side  of  their  character 
is  therefore  unworthy  of  any  attention.  In  our 
ignorant  contentment  we  shut  our  eyes  to  the  fact 
that  in  men  the  sexual  feelings  are  at  their  height 
from  twenty  to  thirty-five,  and  that  often  later  on  in 
life  they  return  again  with  an  even  more  insistent 
demand  to  be  satisfied.  In  a  previous  chapter  I 
have  pointed  out  how  we  prevent  under  masters  from 
marrying,  not  only  by  low  pay,  but  by  threats  of 
dismissal.  The  comparatively  healthy  tone  of  some 
schools  is  a  poor  reason  for  continuing  a  system 
which  tends  to  promote  perversion  and  immorality. 
The  prohibition  and  disfavour  with  which  head 
masters  view  the  marriage  of  their  assistants  is 
unfair  both  to  the  master  whose  life  it  warps  and  to 
the  boys  whom  we  place  under  their  charge.  How- 
ever much  we  may  shirk  the  fact,  the  influence  of  a 
man  of  any  age  among  boys  is  much  more  wholesome 
if  he  is  married,  or  mixes  normally  with  members  of 
the  opposite  sex,  than  if  he  leads  a  life  of  sex  segrega- 
tion. Although  examples  and  proofs  could  be  multi- 
plied indefinitely,  the  truth  is  too  obvious  to  need 
emphasis.  At  present  the  tone  of  the  celibate  master 
often  varies  between  an  extreme  and  misdirected 
familiarity  and  a  forced  and  unnatural  reticence  ;  it 


108     THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

is  seldom  well  balanced,  and  it  is  doubtful  which  of 
the  two  extremes  is  most  harmful.  The  saying  of 
the  old  roue  that  he  would  rather  trust  his  boy  to 
the  charge  of  a  man  with  fifty  wives  than  to  the 
most  religious  celibate  in  Europe  should  receive  more 
than  a  passing  attention  ;  there  is  little  doubt  that 
the  exclusion  of  married  men  and  women  from  our 
schools  is  one  of  the  most  unwholesome  anomalies 
that  the  economic  pressure  on  the  poor  educated 
classes  has  produced. 

In  some  preparatory  schools  the  boys  are  often  far 
from  ignorant  of  the  ways  in  which  masters  satisfy 
both  their  natural  and  perverted  instincts,  and 
although  the  evil  influence  of  the  celibate  is  usually 
more  indirect,  and  takes  such  forms  as  sadism,  it  often 
shows  a  direct  homosexual  tendency.  Sometimes 
head  masters  perceive  sadistic  feelings  in  their 
assistants,  and  therefore,  as  we  have  seen,  they 
take  to  themselves  the  whole  duty  of  corporal 
punishment ;  but  these  feeble  means  of  checking 
symptoms  are  of  little  use  :  the  evil  is  far  too  deeply 
rooted  to  be  cured  by  such  small  measures.  Well 
may  a  master  fear  the  influence  of  an  assistant  who 
is  practically  forbidden  to  marry,  and  is  forced  to 
keep  his  wife,  should  he  have  one,  many  miles  from 
the  school  in  which  he  teaches.  The  checking  of 
intimacy  between  masters  and  boys  brings  its  own 
evils,  and  no  thoughtful  head  master  can  rely 
ultimately  on  these  methods  of  reforming  a  system 
which  is  eminently  unnatural.  Considering  his 
treatment  and  the  narrow  life  he  is  forced  to  lead, 
the  under  master  is  undoubtedly  often  surprisingly 
moral ;  it  is  enormously  to  the  credit  of  assistant 


IMMORALITY  AND  SEXUAL  PATHOLOGY       109 

masters  that  this  is  so,  but  figs  do  not  come  from 
thistles,  and  we  must  look  at  the  evils  of  the  present 
system  and  not  at  the  virtue  which,  in  spite  of 
everything,  emerges  from  it. 

The  immoral  atmosphere  among  the  boys  at  some 
of  our  large  boarding  schools  is  such  that  a  normal 
man  entering  them  for  the  first  time  feels  as  one  who 
starts  work  for  the  first  time  in  an  asylum  ;  he  must 
leave  the  place  or  become  a  victim  to  the  insanity 
that  prevails.  Yet  there  are,  I  am  aware,  many 
young  masters  who  are  inclined  to  laugh  and  make 
light  of  the  sexual  pathology  of  our  boarding  schools. 
In  hearing  their  arguments  we  should  remember  the 
words  of  Alphonse  Daudet,  who,  in  commenting  on 
similar  moral  perversions  among  adults,  said  :  "  Sir, 
you  have  no  comprehension  of  this  evil.  You  see,  you 
are  not  a  father ;  if  you  were,  you  would  share  my 
horror  and  indignation." 

When  we  realize  the  importance  of  the  married 
master  and  mistress,  we  shall  also  begin  to  understand 
the  wholesome  influence  of  the  man  on  girls  and  the 
woman  on  boys.  Most  authorities  contend  that  the 
influence  of  a  master  on  girls  is  excellent,  but  that 
the  mistress  under  present  circumstances  is  a  doubt- 
ful blessing  in  the  boys'  school.  Under  average  con- 
ditions this  may  be  so,  although  there  are,  of  course, 
many  women  who  would  have  a  most  excellent  effect 
in  producing  a  normal  and  healthy  atmosphere 
among  boys.  Certain  it  is  that  among  girls  there 
is  more  joyful  energy  displayed  in  trying  to  please  a 
member  of  the  opposite  sex. 

The  universality  of  homosexual  perversion  in  our 
large  schools  seems  to  point  to  a  larger  and  more 


110     THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

widespread  cause  than  the  evil  communications  of 
certain  perverted  individuals.  Of  such  fundamental 
causes  the  herding  together  of  one  sex  has  been 
established  without  doubt,  and  the  termination  of 
this  homosexual  influence  is  to  a  great  extent  in  our 
hands.  As  we  have  pointed  out,  the  atmosphere  of 
our  large  boarding  schools  tends  to  foster,  as  well  as 
to  create,  homosexual  vices,  and  the  demands  made 
upon  the  individual  are  such  as  the  pervert  can 
usually  fulfil.  The  sexual  pervert  can  lead  quite 
an  ordinary  mediocre  life,  provided  everything  is 
arranged  for  him  by  others,  and  it  is  exactly  this 
sort  of  life  that  the  boy  at  our  large  preparatory 
school  is  obliged  to  lead.  Having  manufactured  the 
vice,  we  have — by  accident,  I  admit — given  an  en- 
vironment in  which  its  results  are  least  apparent.  It 
is  only  in  after-life,  when  strength  of  character  is 
tested  by  unusual  circumstances,  when  questions 
have  to  be  decided  for  which  there  are  no  precedents, 
and  for  which  there  has  been  no  training,  that  the 
sexual  pervert  shews  the  weakness  caused  by  his 
habits.  It  is  only  the  originating  intellectual  facul- 
ties that  are  affected,  and  as  these  receive  no  test  in 
the  routine  of  the  school  life,  their  feebleness  is 
seldom  discovered. 

Having  seen  some  of  the  chief  reasons  why  co- 
education has  become  necessary  for  a  healthy  adoles- 
cence, which  is  to  prepare  for  a  wholesome  and  well- 
balanced  adult  life,  it  will  be  well  to  view  generally 
the  progress  which  this  system  has  made  abroad  as 
well  as  in  England. 

In  the  United  States  of  America  co-education 
exists  in  practically  all  secondary  schools  for  adoles- 


IMMORALITY  AND  SEXUAL  PATHOLOGY       111 

cents  up  to  the  age  of  eighteen  or  nineteen.  In 
Washington  it  was  abandoned  for  a  time,  but 
renewed  again  on  account  of  the  disorderliness  and 
bad  behaviour  of  the  boys  when  separated  from  the 
girls.  "  The  relations  between  boys  and  girls  in 
American  schools  are  natural,  and  the  work  is  cer- 
tainly not  less  strenuous,  as  some  people  allege," 
writes  Professor  Foster ;  and  another  writer  who  also 
took  part  in  the  Mosley  Commission  writes :  "  Girls 
seem  to  supplant  the  necessity  for  hard  discipline, 
and  unconsciously  to  spread  a  natural  feeling  for 
discipline  and  orderliness."  Among  all  the  reports 
from  every  part  of  the  world,  there  is  a  consensus  of 
opinion  that  whatever  may  be  the  disadvantages 
of  mixed  schools,  the  sexual  question  is  greatly 
in  abeyance,  and  the  perversion  and  immorality 
of  the  unmixed  school  is  considerably  decreased. 
The  advocacy  of  mixed  schools  depends  clearly  on 
the  appreciation  of  the  amount  of  sexual  vice  which 
exists  under  our  present  system. 

"  Girls  are  so  much  in  advance  of  boys  in  sexual 
development,"  writes  Mr.  Fletcher,  "  that  the  two 
sexes  are  in  the  same  position  as  the  stamens  and 
pistils  of  flowers  w^hich  develop  at  different  periods 
to  prevent  self-fertilization."  "  There  is  no  doubt," 
writes  the  head  master  of  one  of  our  large  public 
schools,  "  that  the  sexual  strain  is  generated,  and 
not  diminished,  by  our  present  system  in  England ;  in 
America  it  is  totally  absent.  In  a  mixed  class  girls 
excel  in  concentration,  boys  in  originality,  and  both 
are  proud  of  their  ability.  The  fact  that  there  is  no 
amused  recognition  when  a  girl  gets  up  to  construe 
arid  assumes  a  quasi-public  position  is  an  eloquent 


112      THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

testimony  to  the  healthy  tone  that  co-education 
produces.  The  elective  system  of  study  naturally 
separates  boys  from  girls  when  the  work  is  not  suited 
to  the  particular  ability  of  either  sex." 

The  almost  universal  consensus  of  opinion  in 
favour  of  mixed  schools  among  men  who  have  studied 
the  question  in  America  is  amply  shown  by  quoting 
three  of  the  many  other  expressions  of  approval  on 
the  part  of  members  of  the  Mosley  Commission. 
Mr.  Herbert  Rathbone  suggests  that  the  groundless 
objections  usually  raised  to  co-education  are  made 
by  people  who  have  not  themselves  experienced  it, 
and  that  the  self-reliance  of  girls  in  the  United 
States,  and  the  respect  with  which  they  are  treated 
by  men,  are  both  due  to  the  mutual  understanding 
of  the  opposite  sex  which  co-education  has  produced. 
"  The  fact,"  says  another  member,  "  that  in  the 
United  States  the  workman  so  often  divides  his 
earnings  willingly  with  his  wife  is  the  result  of 
co-education  and  of  constant  work  side  by  side  with 
women."  "  On  the  whole,"  says  Professor  Rhys  in 
the  same  Report,  "  I  am  inclined  to  regard  co- 
education as  offering  men  and  women  useful  oppor- 
tunities of  sounding  each  other's  character  ;  the  few 
premature  engagements  are  more  than  compensated 
for  by  the  number  of  unhappy  marriages  it  pre- 
vents." 

Denmark  has  been  entirely  won  over  to  co-educa- 
tion, and  from  Norway,  where  it  is  also  general, 
Dr.  Otto  Andersen  writes  :  "  By  co-education  talents 
are  mutually  called  forth  which  give  temperance  to 
character,  and  are  not  called  forth  by  a  school  con- 
fined to  members  of  one  sex."  Another  writer  from 


IMMORALITY  AND  SEXUAL  PATHOLOGY       113 

a  neighbouring  country  writes  :  "  There  is  a  remark- 
able absence  of  obscene  language  on  account  of  the 
presence  of  the  opposite  sex,  and  the  quietness  and 
reticence  engendered  is  carried  almost  unconsciously 
into  the  conversations  between  persons  of  the  same 
sex.  But  co-education  must  have  no  artificial 
barriers,  for  if  so,  it  promotes  in  an  exaggerated 
form  what  it  is  meant  to  destroy."  The  last  remarks 
are  of  considerable  importance  to  co- educationists  in 
England,  who  are  sometimes  only  half-hearted  sup- 
porters of  the  system,  and  who  make  it  harmful 
instead  of  good  by  emphasizing  instead  of  ignoring 
the  difference  in  sex  of  their  pupils.  Co-education 
by  halves  is  often  worse  than  useless. 

In  Canada  co-education  originated  in  the  country 
districts,  and  was  afterwards  adopted  in  the  towns. 
I  do  not,  however,  attach  much  importance  to  the 
suggestion  that  it  is  only  advisable  in  the  country. 
The  sexes  in  town  life  are  brought  at  present 
into  even  closer  contact  than  in  the  country,  and 
I  think  when  contact  is  closest  a  system  of 
mutual  understanding  and  decent  comradeship  is 
even  more  important.  In  New  Zealand  Dr.  Hoyden 
considers  that  the  advantages  of  co-education  both 
in  town  and  country  easily  outweigh  the  dis- 
advantages. 

Besides  the  accusations  on  the  one  hand  of  killing, 
and  on  the  other  hand  of  promoting,  love,  which  we 
have  already  dealt  with,  there  are  several  minor 
criticisms  the  importance  of  which  it  is  well  to 
consider. 

There  are  some  who  affirm  that  since  girls  cannot 
play  football  and  boys  dislike  needlework,  boys  and 

8 


114     THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

girls  should  not  be  brought  up  together.  The  argu- 
ment is  absurd.  It  is,  of  course,  an  obvious  fact 
that  in  a  mixed  school  fewer  girls  play  football  than 
boys,  and  boys  probably  do  little  needlework,  but 
the  truth  is  no  more  a  condemnation  of  mixed  schools 
than  the  necessity  for  a  separate  classical  and  modern 
side  is  a  factor  against  the  existence  of  a  school  with 
two  alternative  branches  of  study. 

There  are  others  who  argue  that  because  in  some 
primitive  tribes  adolescents  are,  at  a  certain  period 
of  their  life,  taken  away  to  the  mountains  and 
deprived  of  any  intercourse  with  the  opposite  sex, 
boys  and  girls  in  this  country  should  be  segregated 
in  a  similar  manner.  The  fact  that  such  a  custom 
prevails  among  savage  tribes  is  true,  but  the  analogy 
between  our  present  state  of  civilization  and  the 
conditions  of  these  primitive  tribes  is  so  false  that 
any  deduction  from  such  a  comparison  must  be  a 
mere  shot  in  the  dark.  The  tribes  amongst  which 
such  separation  exists  live  in  conditions  in  no  way 
analogous  to  our  own,  and,  while  deprived  of  some  of 
the  blessings  of  civilization,  are  peculiarly  free  from 
the  homosexual  perversions  which  civilization  alone 
seems  to  bring. 

The  nearest  approach  to  primitive  man  under 
civilized  conditions  is  to  be  found  in  the  criminal 
adolescent,  who  often  truly  represents  the  actual 
fundamental  feelings  under  our  outward  veneer  of 
civilization  and  refinement.  In  America  co-educa- 
tion occupies  a  conspicuous  part  in  criminal  re- 
form, and  is  so  useful  a  factor  in  the  Junior 
Republics  that  the  officials  of  these  reform  colonies 
think  that  no  similar  institutions  should  be  started 


IMMORALITY  AND  SEXUAL  PATHOLOGY   115 

without  boys  and  girls  being  included.  The  other 
principles  of  these  colonies  have  already  been 
mentioned,  but  authorities  who  have  had  most 
experience  in  the  reform  of  adolescent  criminals  in 
these  establishments  consider  that  if  the  influence 
of  co-education  were  taken  away  they  would  be 
deprived  of  one  of  the  most  useful  factors  in  favour 
of  reform. 

In  England  the  opinions  of  schoolmasters  and 
mistresses  who  have  had  practical  experience  in  co- 
education may  be  summed  up  in  a  few  words. 

The  evils  which  infest  our  boys'  and  girls'  schools 
to-day  are  so  strikingly  absent  in  the  mixed  schools 
that  the  heads  of  co-educational  establishments  often 
consider  very  seriously  the  admission  of  a  boy  or 
girl  who  has  commenced  his  or  her  education  in  an 
unmixed  school  and  been  subject  to  the  vicious 
atmosphere  of  sex  segregation ;  the  homosexual 
atmosphere  has  been  so  entirely  avoided  in  the 
mixed  school  that  the  corrupt  tone  engendered  by 
most  other  schools  would  be  at  once  felt.  "  Some- 
times in  the  mixed  school  a  boy  wishes  to  sit  next 
to  a  girl  because  she  is  pretty,  or  a  girl  wishes  to  be 
near  a  boy  because  he  is  an  angel ;  but  even  these 
evils,  if  one  may  call  them  so,  are  soon  overcome 
by  the  general  feeling  of  comradeship  which  exists 
between  both  sexes." 

"  The  control  of  the  adolescent  is  far  easier  in  the 
mixed  class,  and  there  is  much  less  resort  to  com- 
pulsion and  a  more  inward  sense  of  discipline  among 
the  pupils.  The  foolish  adoration  of  the  mistress  by 
the  girl  is  as  absent  as  the  perverted  affection  of  the 
master  for  the  boy,  and  these  are  two  of  the  greatest 


116      THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

evils  of  our  present  system.  There  is  no  doubt  that 
both  men  and  women  give  of  their  best  when  teaching 
the  opposite  sex,  and  the  healthy  atmosphere  of  the 
classroom  is  beyond  any  words  of  praise." 

These  are  the  opinions  of  those  who  have  had 
most  experience  in  England  of  co-education. 

To  a  casual  visitor  the  open,  healthy  atmosphere 
of  the  mixed  school  is  always  a  striking  feature. 
The  visitor  never  dreads  to  look  round  corners,  and 
the  tone  and  conversation  of  the  large  classroom  is 
the  same  as  that  of  the  washing-room  or  dressing- 
room.  There  are  few  head  masters  or  mistresses  of 
large  boarding  schools  who  could  confidently  say 
this.  At  the  large  boarding  school  the  parent  must 
usually  be  content  to  watch  the  cricket  match  or 
prize-giving,  and  to  know  nothing  of  the  real  life  of 
the  school  where  his  boy  is  spending  the  most  difficult 
years  of  his  life,  and  he  therefore  knows  little  of  the 
evils  and  corruption  so  conspicuously  absent  in  the 
mixed  school. 

I  have  yet  to  find  the  head  of  a  large  school  who 
will  say  to  the  parent :  "  Please  do  not  go  over  the 
school  with  me ;  you  will  learn  nothing.  Come 
unexpectedly  at  any  time  of  the  day  or  night ;  enter 
any  room,  large  or  small,  which  you  choose,  and  you 
will  not  be  sorry  that  your  boy  is  at  this  school." 
It  is  because. few  head  masters  can  say  this  that 
the  advocates  of  co-ed  ucation  think  that  some  real 
improvement  is  necessary.  In  the  large  assembly 
halls,  in  the  school  concert  rooms,  in  the  athletic 
grounds,  parents  see  a  pleasing  picture,  well  stage- 
managed,  of  the  sort  of  boy  the  master  wishes  to 
create.  It  is  only  when  the  compulsory  work  and 


IMMOEALITY  AND  SEXUAL  PATHOLOGY       117 

play  is  over,  when  the  boy  is  indulging  those  secret 
hobbies  nearest  to  his  heart,  that  a  parent  can  see 
what  sort  of  character  is  really  being  produced. 

The  total  suppression  of  sexual  desire  in  the 
adolescent  is  impossible,  and  if  it  were  possible  we 
should  eliminate  all  the  good  as  well  as  the  evil  of 
the  future  generation.  What  is  possible  is  a  full 
realization  of  the  existence  of  the  sexual  desire,  of 
its  strength,  and  of  its  importance,  and  of  the  fact, 
which  is  slowly  emerging  from  the  mist  of  religious 
dogma  and  doubt,  that  sexual  desire  is  a  healthy 
thing,  and  that  from  its  "  long-circuit "  arises  all  the 
good,  all  the  wisdom,  and  all  the  invention  that  the 
world  has  ever  known. 

It  is  the  "  long-circuit,"  and  not  the  abolition  of 
sexual  desire,  that  the  mixed  school  tends  to  produce. 


CHAPTER  V 

SELF-ASSERTION   AND    DISCIPLINE 

The  definition  of  self-assertion  and  discipline — The  range  of 
self-expression — The  effects  of  discipline. 

THE  DEFINITION  OF  SELF  -  ASSERTION  AND  DIS- 
CIPLINE.— We  have  seen  in  the  previous  chapter 
that  every  adolescent  possesses  a  strong  desire  for 
self-realization  and  self-expression,  which,  if  cramped 
and  denied  legitimate  outlets,  will  become  as  potent 
for  evil  as  it  was  for  good.  On  the  other  hand,  we 
are  told  repeatedly  that  discipline  is  good  for  adoles- 
cents, and  that  without  it  no  satisfactory  moral 
growth  can  be  achieved.  Most  of  those  who  use 
the  term  "  discipline  "  have  little  real  knowledge  of 
what  it  means,  and  much  less  of  its  true  relation  to 
self-assertion  and  the  influence  of  the  one  on  the 
other.  Self-assertion  after  adolescence  becomes 
modified  by  varied  experiences,  and  we  wrongly 
attribute  all  forms  of  wise  and  slow  self-assertion 
to  discipline  rather  than  to  experience.  And  here 
our  thoughts  begin  to  get  confused.  Discipline 
is  the  forced  obedience  to  the  commands  of  others, 
and  the  performance  of  acts  the  reason  of  which 
we  do  not  understand.  The  slow,  well-ordered  acts 
of  the  clever  middle-aged  man  have  little  relation 

118 


SELF-ASSERTION  AND  DISCIPLINE  119 

to  discipline,  and  certainly  are  not  the  result  of 
forced  subjection  to  the  will  of  others.  Such  acts 
may  come  from  a  knowledge  of  the  results  of 
previous  hasty  acts  of  self-assertion ;  they  may  be 
the  result  of  watching  the  acts  of  others,  or  perhaps 
of  a  decision  temporarily  to  obey  the  commands  of 
wiser  individuals.  But  such  acts  are  not  inspired  by 
discipline  in  the  sense  in  which  we  should  use  the 
word ;  they  are  rather  delayed  and  thoughtful  acts 
of  self-assertion,  and  differ  from  discipline  in  that 
they  are  founded  on  the  reason  of  the  individual.  If 
we  place  our  boys  in  subjection  to  rules  made  by 
others,  and  about  which  no  questions  are  allowed, 
then  we  are  teaching  them  discipline.  If  we  place 
them  in  a  school  where  they  know  the  reason  for 
the  laws,  and  have  decided  in  their  own  mind  that 
obedience  is  best,  then  we  are  not  asking  them  to  be 
disciplined  to  the  will  of  others,  but  to  temper  their 
self-assertion  by  reason.  To  some  this  may  seem  an 
unfair  distinction,  but  if  we  are  to  attach  any  real 
meaning  to  the  words  "  discipline  "  and  "  self-asser- 
tion," it  is  essential  to  be  exact,  and  to  use  them  in 
their  true  antithetical  sense. 

One  simple  example  will  be  enough  to  make  the 
matter  clear  and  precise. 

A  boy  decides  that  he  wishes  to  learn  to  bicycle. 
He  has  a  few  shillings  of  his  own,  and  decides  to  use  it 
to  pay  for  instruction.  He  goes  to  a  man  who  keeps 
a  neighbouring  bicycle-shop.  He  tells  the  man  that 
for  an  hour  a  day  he  will  do  exactly  what  he  is  told 
if  in  a  week  the  man  will  teach  him  to  bicycle.  The 
man  and  boy  agree  on  the  subject,  and  at  the  end  of 
the  week  the  boy  has  achieved  what  he  wanted.  He 


120     THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

has  by  voluntary  obedience  been  able  to  enlarge  his 
self-assertive  activities  by  being  able  to  bicycle. 
During  the  week's  tuition  the  boy  has  done  exactly 
and  carefully  what  he  has  been  told,  but  there  has 
been  no  discipline.  His  ideas  of  self-assertion  have 
been  enlarged  and  given  a  wider  scope  by  his 
realization  of  the  value  of  obedience,  but  every 
act  of  obedience  to  the  man  who  was  instructing 
him  was  an  act  of  pure  self-assertion,  and  not  of 
discipline. 

On  the  other  hand,  take  the  case  of  a  boy  who 
enters  a  school  where  drill  is  compulsory.  He 
is  forced  by  his  master  to  walk  to  the  drill -ground 
and  perform  certain  movements.  Argument  and 
remonstrance  are  useless ;  everyone  has  conspired 
to  break  instead  of  to  strengthen  his  will.  The 
boy's  parents  are  despotic  and  all-powerful ;  they 
have  transferred  their  power  to  the  head  master, 
who  in  his  turn  has  bequeathed  it  to  an  assistant. 
If  the  boy  realizes,  as  he  probably  will,  that  any 
action  on  his  part  is  of  little  value,  he  will  yield 
to  the  inevitable  and  all-powerful  rule  of  his 
superiors,  and  if  drills  are  frequent  and  prolonged 
he  will  have  learnt  to  obey  so  satisfactorily  that 
reason  and  consciousness  as  well  will  have  been 
almost  annihilated.  In  after-years,  if  he  is  ever 
sent  to  a  prison  or  a  lunatic  asylum,  he  will  be 
one  of  the  most  orderly  and  disciplined  individuals  : 
he  may  even,  perhaps,  become  good  "  food  for  gun- 
powder "  ;  but  if  he  mixes  in  the  world  of  original  and 
progressive  thought  and  action,  he  will  find  that 
discipline  has  weakened  and  not  strengthened  his 
character,  and  that  he  is  lacking  in  that  slow  and 


SELF- ASSERTION  AND  DISCIPLINE  121 

reasoned  self-assertion  which  makes  great  men  and 
women,  and  is  never  manufactured  by  involuntary 
obedience. 

It  must  not  be  thought  that  an  action  which  is 
self-assertive  takes  little  account  of  the  environ- 
ment, since  it  is  in  self-assertive  acts,  and  in  self- 
assertive  acts  alone,  that  the  reasonable  signifi- 
cance of  environmental  factors  is  realized  ;  a  boy 
who  is  forced  to  obey  pays  little  attention  to  the 
circumstances  of  his  action. 

During  adolescence  we  must  teach  the  boy  to 
consider  himself  as  an  individual  dealing  with  an 
environment,  and  making  fruitful  use  of  it.  Too 
often  the  boy  considers  himself  a  characterless  being, 
forced  hither  and  thither  by  the  commands  of  fate, 
represented  for  the  time  being  by  his  schoolmasters  ; 
if  self-confidence  is  lost,  self-respect  disappears,  and 
we  have  an  adolescent  disciplined  and  dependent, 
instead  of  free  and  self-reliant. 

THE  RANGE  OF  SELF-EXPRESSION. — It  is  fortu- 
nate that  the  adolescent  often  finds  illegitimate  ways 
for  the  expression  of  the  individuality,  which  we 
have  denied  him  ;  if  it  were  not  so,  we  should  indeed 
have  a  poor  race.  Self-expression  is  possible  in  end- 
less ways  and  in  infinite  variety.  The  most  elemen- 
tary and  almost  semiconscious  forms  are  dealt  with 
in  Sir  Arthur  Mitchell's  book  on  "  Dreaming,  Laugh- 
ing, and  Blushing,"  and  from  such  simple  acts  as 
these  we  can  trace  the  various  forms  of  self-expres- 
sion, until  they  reach  the  highest  and  most  com- 
plex forms  of  intellectual  self-realization.  In  all 
cases  of  self-assertion  we  can  watch  the  conscious 


122      THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

delight  of  the  individual  in  the  free  expression  of 
his  personality,  sometimes  restrained  by  reason 
from  within,  but  seldom  by  orders  from  without. 
The  boy  expresses  himself  by  a  laugh,  a  blush, 
or  perhaps  a  dream,  which  no  direct  order  from 
without  could  evoke ;  the  older  man  seeks  ex- 
pression in  some  long  -  sustained  work  of  intel- 
lectual originality,  which  he  could  have  created  at 
the  command  of  no  other  voice  than  that  of  his  own 
spontaneous  desire. 

At  the  dawn  of  adolescence  the  boy's  perception 
that  his  individuality  differs  from  the  rest  of 
humanity  causes  a  longing  to  express  that  differ- 
ence, and  a  craving  to  show  by  every  act  his 
personality  to  the  outside  world.  It  is  only 
gradually  that  he  discovers  that  there  are  delayed 
as  well  as  sudden  methods  of  expressing  himself, 
and  that  self-expression  may  be  the  product  of  a 
moment's  thought  or  of  a  lifetime  of  deep  considera- 
tion and  self-realization ;  yet,  inevitably,  there 
grows  in  the  young  mind  the  idea  of  slow,  well- 
ordered  self-assertion,  and  the  confident  child  gives 
place  to  the  more  diffident  adolescent. 

Many  writers  consider  that  the  diffidence  of  later 
adolescence  is  a  sign  that  a  desire  for  creative  work 
has  temporarily  departed,  to  return  again  in  later 
years.  The  idea  is  a  mistaken  one.  The  desire  for 
self-expression  is  increased  rather  than  diminished 
during  adolescence,  and  it  is  the  very  realization  of 
this  fact  which  causes  the  quietness  and  diffidence  of 
the  growing  boy  or  girl ;  the  adolescent  at  ten  or 
twelve  becomes  dissatisfied  with  sudden,  spontaneous 
acts  of  self-assertion,  and  begins  to  grope  in  the 


SELF-ASSERTION  AND  DISCIPLINE  123 

world  around  for  some  more  concentrated  interest, 
some  absorbing  outlet  for  the  energy  which  craves 
for  inquiry  and  self-expression.  The  adolescent 
learns  that  the  wish  of  the  moment  must  be  merged 
in  larger  desires,  and  that  self-assertion  must  be 
guided  by  intelligence  and  reason  if  the  higher 
levels  of  self-realization  are  to  be  reached. 

THE  EFFECTS  OF  DISCIPLINE. — The  discipline  at 
the  average  boys'  preparatory  school  kills  rather 
than  encourages  this  reasoned  self-development 
which  the  adolescent  unconsciously  desires.  By 
discipline  schoolmasters  mean  the  antithesis  to  an 
intelligent  self-control  voluntarily  used  by  their 
pupils.  They  imply  an  external  control,  obtained 
either  by  physical  compulsion  or  by  a  fear  of  the 
consequences  of  disobedience  so  disastrous  that  no 
human  being  would  desire  to  incur  them.  It  is  the 
discipline  of  the  Russian  Government  which  prevails 
in  our  schools  as  well  as  in  our  prisons. 

When  the  boy  leaves  school  and  enters  the  world, 
he  discovers,  to  his  surprise,  that  life  is  not  made 
up  of  autocratic  masters  and  obedient  slaves,  but 
consists  rather  of  a  limited  freedom,  which  con- 
stantly presents  to  the  individual  well-balanced 
alternatives  from  which  to  choose.  Since  the  school 
has  seldom  allowed  him  a  free  choice  of  action,  he 
hesitates,  and  finds  few  precedents  in  his  school  life 
to  guide  him. 

Automatic  action  is  the  child  of  forced  obedience, 
and  many  schoolmasters  are  really  aiming  at  auto- 
matisms when  they  pretend  to  be  enforcing  disci- 
pline. Automatic  actions  weaken  the  character  and 


124      THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

enervate  the  mind,  but  are  the  greatest  help  to 
disciplinarians  ;  they  are  distinguished  both  from 
the  voluntary  acts  of  self-expression  and  the  forced 
acts  of  discipline  by  the  total  lack  of  thought  on 
the  part  of  the  adolescent.  Acts  of  self-expression 
only  slowly  become  automatic ;  acts  of  forced  and 
involuntary  obedience  are  almost  bound  quickly  to 
lead  to  automatisms. 

During  the  first  few  days  of  term  the  schoolboy 
does  consciously  obey  the  school  bell  when  it  rings 
every  morning  at  nine  o'clock,  but  after  the  first  few 
weeks  his  entrance  into  school  loses  even  the  value 
of  an  act  of  discipline,  and  becomes  purely  auto- 
matic. Discipline  has  been  too  strong  for  the 
craving  for  self-assertion,  and  any  desire  for  self- 
expression  has  been  stifled  by  the  forced  obedience 
to  the  rules  of  others.  No  one  would  deny  that  a 
certain  number  of  automatic  acts  are  essential  in  the 
life  of  any  school,  or  of  any  individual ;  but  if  the 
number  be  multiplied  unnecessarily  in  the  school,  the 
minds  of  the  boys  tend  to  act  permanently  in  an 
automatic  and  semiconscious  manner,  a  result  even 
more  disastrous  than  the  dependence  on  others 
which  conscious  obedience  enforces.  The  school- 
master should  regard  all  automatic  actions  as  neces- 
sary evils,  although  at  present  convenience  urges 
him  continually  to  increase  their  number.  Auto- 
matism follows  so  closely  on  continued  discipline 
that  it  is  a  dangerous  and  insidious  evil,  and  the 
question  should  be  seriously  studied  by  those  men 
who  have  large  numbers  of  adolescents  to  deal  with. 
At  present  schoolmasters  as  a  class  are  proud  of  the 
discipline  in  their  schools,  and  seldom  stop  to  con- 


SELF-ASSERTION  AND  DISCIPLINE  125 

sider  whether  it  is  creating  unconscious  automatons 
or  reasonable,  self-reliant  human  beings.  The  school- 
master has  two  alternatives  :  he  can  set  up  rules  of 
work  and  play  as  gods  at  whose  altar  the  adolescent 
must  sacrifice  all  his  desire  for  self-expansion  and 
self-expression,  or  he  may  present  rules  as  servants 
of  those  who  choose  to  obey  them.  To-day  even  the 
accumulated  wisdom  of  ages,  which  should  be  con- 
sidered as  waiting  to  aid  those  who  desire  its 
help,  has  been  captured  by  the  disciplinarians,  and 
used  as  a  weapon  of  oppression  instead  of  a  useful 
tool. 

By  some  curious  confusion  of  thought  the  parent 
usually  considers  that  the  greater  the  amount  of  im- 
perative discipline  which  exists  in  a  school,  the  more 
self-reliant  and  independent  a  boy  will  become  when 
he  goes  out  into  the  world.  We  have  seen  that  the 
imperative  discipline  on  which  most  of  the  daily  life 
in  our  preparatory  boarding  school  depends  can  only 
lead  to  an  unwilling  obedience  or  an  automatic 
response,  according  to  the  length  of  time  that  the 
pupil  has  been  subject  to  it.  The  only  discipline 
which  will  be  of  any  real  worth  to  the  boy  in  after- 
life is  self- discipline,  and  this  is  only  taught  by  con- 
stantly presenting  alternative  courses,  allowing  the 
boy  to  follow  whichever  his  reason  dictates,  and  show- 
ing him  the  consequences.  In  this  way  only  can 
self-reliance  and  self-confidence  be  taught  with  life- 
long advantage. 

It  seems  curious  to  be  writing  these  words  twenty- 
five  years  after  Herbert  Spencer  wrote  his  treatise 
on  education,  but,  as  is  often  the  case  in  this 
country,  respect  for  the  name  of  a  philosopher  has 


126      THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

drowned  all  regard  for  his  theories,  and  school- 
masters still  find  such  a  convenient  short-cut  to 
external  orderliness  in  despotic  rule  and  forced 
obedience  that  the  same  repeated  protest  seems 
necessary  year  by  year. 

Excess  of  discipline  is  often  at  the  root  of  the 
necessity  for  more  discipline.  At  home  the  boy  of 
nine  to  fourteen  usually  treats  his  elders  with  a 
natural  respect  tinged  with  affection  and  intimacy ; 
when  a  boy  enters  his  preparatory  school,  he  finds 
himself  in  a  place  where  little  affection  and  certainly 
no  real  intimacy  exists  between  him  and  his  elders, 
and  where  respect  for  the  usher  is  in  proportion  to  the 
power  he  exercises.  It  is  only  because  we  choose  to 
commit  our  boys  to  a  kind  of  luxurious  prison  (with- 
out even  the  advantages  of  the  Borstal  system),  where 
the  occupations,  companions,  lessons,  and  play  of 
our  growing  generation  are  all  arranged,  that  aloof- 
ness and  constant  discipline  are  necessary. 

I  have  spoken  to  many  preparatory  schoolmasters 
on  the  subject  of  the  formation  of  character  in 
their  boys,  and  so  doubtful  are  they  of  the  sort  of 
boy  their  school  is  creating  that  they  are  constantly 
in  dread  of  their  pupils  being  left  to  their  unguided 
and  independent  actions  for  even  a  few  minutes  of 
the  day.  There  is  a  time  for  Greek,  a  time  for 
Latin,  a  time  for  gymnasium,  a  time  for  cricket, 
but  no  time  for  a  boy  to  show  his  masters  what 
he  would  do  if  he  were  given  an  hour  to  develop 
his  own  character  by  the  independent  action  of 
his  personality.  This  method  succeeds  as  long  as 
the  iron  rod  of  discipline  is  kept  over  the  boy  or 
young  man,  but  when  it  is  removed,  what  sort  of 


SELF-ASSERTION  AND  DISCIPLINE  127 

individual  goes  out  into  the  world  ?  Not,  I  think, 
a  strong,  self-reliant,  independent  individual.  Im- 
morality and  decadence  waits  on  the  individual 
when  he  emerges  from  the  grip  of  this  sort  of 
discipline,  and  preys  on  the  weakness  it  has  formed 
as  soon  as  the  boy  or  man  goes  out  into  the  world. 

In  America,  among  the  criminal  boys  at  the 
reformatories  already  mentioned,  there  has  been 
created  a  natural  atmosphere  and  mutual  under- 
standing which  is  reducing  the  necessity  for  external 
discipline  to  a  minimum;  the  boy  is  too  fully  interested 
in  his  occupations  to  need  to  be  constantly  observed, 
and  as  rules  and  external  discipline  disappear  from 
the  boys'  lives,  so  the  artificially  produced  love  of 
revolt  disappears  too,  and  where  love  of  evil  is  absent 
the  force  of  discipline  is  unnecessary.  We  are  making 
our  deficient  children  and  our  criminal  children  into 
reasonable  and  self-disciplined  men  and  women,  while 
we  refuse  to  do  the  same  for  our  upper-class  boy  in 
the  preparatory  and  public  school,  and  are  loath 
to  relax  our  iron  codes  of  imperative  discipline  and 
order. 

General  Baden-Powell,  in  his  book  on  scouting 
for  boys,  has  shown  us  how  deeply  he  realizes 
the  importance  of  self-reliance  and  self- initiation 
in  boys ;  but  does  he  realize  that  his  admirable 
suggestions  can  only  be  carried  out  by  boys  who 
are  not  confined  within  the  four  walls  of  a  pre- 
paratory school  ?  How  can  the  boy  who  is  never 
allowed  out  of  a  few  acres  of  ground,  and  for  whom 
every  hour  is  mapped  out  by  his  masters,  carry  out 
any  of  the  excellent  projects  advocated  in  General 
Baden-Powell's  book?  The  General  has  placed  a 


128      THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

useful  idea  of  education  before  the  parent  of  the 
boy  at  the  day  school,  but  it  is  of  little  use  to  the 
average  upper-class  boy  at  the  large  preparatory 
school.  When  the  boarding  schools  allow  a  boy  to 
mix  with  the  outside  world  in  healthy  intimacy, 
then  they  may  begin  to  rival  a  home  education, 
but  not  till  then  will  the  tide  of  educated  opinion 
which  is  drifting  towards  the  day  school  turn  again 
in  favour  of  the  large  boarding  school. 

Education  can  only  adapt  the  adolescent  to  his 
future  by  constantly  facing  him  with  the  difficulties 
and  perplexities  which  in  after-life  will  puzzle  him. 
If  manliness  and  self-reliance  mean  anything  at  all, 
surely  they  mean  a  realization  of  the  world  and  its 
difficulties,  and  not  merely  a  knowledge  of  a  narrow 
and  cloistered  life.  The  discipline  necessary  to 
after-life  is  a  self-discipline  far  different  from 
blind  obedience  to  orders;  difficulties  are  solved 
not  because  there  are  rules  on  the  subject,  but 
by  knowledge  gained  from  personal  experience 
of  the  results  of  certain  acts.  Adolescence  is  the 
time  to  gain  this  experience,  to  gain  a  knowledge 
of  the  environment  of  the  world,  to  which  life 
at  the  average  boarding  school  has  little  or  no 
resemblance.  So  long  as  there  is  no  choice  of 
action  in  the  daily  life  of  our  schools,  so  long  will 
they  weaken  and  not  strengthen  the  adolescent  for 
his  future. 

The  limits  formed  by  school  walls,  within  which 
most  boys  at  boarding  schools  are  confined,  keep 
both  mind  and  body  from  many  wholesome  explora- 
tions, and  the  discipline  of  being  imprisoned  within 
narrow  bounds  engenders  a  spirit  of  revolution  which 


SELF-ASSERTION  AND  DISCIPLINE  129 

in  its  turn  requires  additional  discipline  within  the 
limits  of  the  school  boundaries.  The  reasons  which 
the  head  master  gives  for  the  narrow  confines  within 
which  he  keeps  his  pupils  are  two — the  moral  and 
the  physical.  Morally,  he  tells  the  critic  his  pupils 
are  not  strong  enough  to  face  the  various  temptations 
of  the  outside  world  ;  physically,  he  says  he  fears 
to  expose  his  boys  to  the  chance  of  infection.  The 
head  master  forgets  that  boys  run  both  risks  during 
holidays,  and  if  he  were  faced  with  the  fact  would 
perhaps  candidly  admit  that  the  bounds  set  to 
the  boys'  wanderings  were  made  solely  for  his 
own  peace  of  mind,  and  not  for  any  improvement 
which  such  rules  would  achieve  in  his  pupils' 
characters. 

The  argument  that  boys  must  be  kept  closely 
within  school  grounds  because  they  are  not  fit  to 
understand  or  resist  outside  evils  is  a  poor  one,  for 
the  very  confinement  within  the  school  prevents 
any  chance  of  the  boy  becoming  fit  to  deal  with 
temptations  outside,  and  the  only  result  of  a  narrow 
school  life  is  to  daily  make  him  more  unfit  for  evils 
which  he  must  face  sooner  or  later. 

The  physical  excuse  of  infection  is,  of  course, 
reasonable  as  it  stands,  and  in  large  towns  the 
danger  may  at  times  be  considerable ;  but  when  we 
consider  the  matter  a  little  further  and  balance  the 
sexual  perversion  almost  inevitable  among  adoles- 
cents in  confined  surroundings  against  the  chance  of 
measles,  our  belief  in  the  head  master's  reasons  may 
appear  less  forcible.  In  reality,  both  the  physical 
and  moral  excuses  are  made  to  lighten  the  weight 
of  the  head  master's  responsibility  in  certain  direc- 

9 


130      THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

tions,  and  we  are  often  unmindful  of  the  greater  and 
more  serious  responsibility  which  is  being  entailed. 

Already  in  a  small  degree  head  masters  are 
realizing  that  a  state  of  quiet  obedience  to  orders 
and  external  discipline  by  no  means  argues  moral 
perfection,  and  that  their  moral  platitudes  are  often 
as  useless  to  their  boys  as  the  Judge's  pious  ex- 
hortations are  to  the  criminal.  The  present  adula- 
tion of  the  weak  boy  and  the  condemnation  of 
the  strong  merely  shows  that  the  present  environ- 
ment does  not  allow  the  strong  boy  sufficient  scope 
to  develop.  This  adulation,  inevitable  under  our 
present  system,  never  appeals  to  the  energetic  spirits 
of  the  stronger  boys,  and  they  know  that  at  heart 
the  masters  are  not  in  sympathy  with  the  weak  and 
quiet  pupil.  In  the  past,  however,  schoolmasters 
have  been  too  busy  manufacturing  slaves  and 
automatons  to  realize  that  their  business  is  to 
mould  personalities,  and  that  some  individuals  need 
a  large  scope  for  wholesome  development. 

In  a  more  enlightened  age  we  are  not  likely 
to  shut  up  a  hundred  boys  in  a  small  community 
without  any  contact  with  the  world  outside,  but 
if  boys  are  still  to  be  debarred  from  the  outside 
world  and  its  interest,  then  their  own  world  must  be 
a  copy  in  miniature.  There  must  be  outlets  and 
work  to  suit  all  natures  and  temperaments  ;  Greek, 
Latin,  football,  cricket,  will  still  exist,  but  only  for 
those  who  can  develop  the  best  that  is  in  them  by 
these  means.  The  more  a  school  is  excluded  from 
the  world,  the  larger  and  more  varied  should  be 
its  interests. 

To-day  we  have  discovered  that  many  boys  find 


SELF-ASSERTION  AND  DISCIPLINE  131 

means  for  self-realization  and  self  -  development 
through  carpentry  and  gardening,  and  we  are  in 
great  danger  of  placing  these  subjects  on  the 
pedestal  formerly  occupied  by  classics  and  mathe- 
matics. If  we  do  this,  no  very  appreciable  progress 
will  have  been  made.  One  golden  rule  is  as  absurd 
as  another,  and  it  is  because  of  the  variety,  not  the 
kind  of  subjects  allowed,  that  each  boy  will  be  likely 
to  find  his  own  salvation. 

We  have  not  yet  learned  the  diversity  of  human 
personalities,  and  until  we  realize  this  more  fully  no 
great  progress  can  be  hoped  for.  In  years  to  come 
educationists  will  no  doubt  laugh  at  our  present 
age  as  one  which  devoted  its  whole  energy  to  the 
teaching  of  a  science,  and  none  to  the  development 
of  the  individual. 

There  are,  I  think,  seven  great  principles,  or  rather 
realizations,  on  which  the  education  of  the  future 
will  rest. 

The  first  principle  that  is  beginning  to  dawn  on 
the  educational  world,  as  it  did  some  hundreds  of 
years  ago  in  the  sphere  of  politics,  is  that  self- 
government  is  the  only  kind  of  government  that 
throws  any  credit  on  the  governors  or  on  the 
governed.  Any  despot  with  sufficient  temporary 
power  can  rule  a  people  with  a  broken  will.  At 
present  few  schoolmasters  teach  their  pupils  to  pro- 
duce as  well  as  to  obey  laws.  It  is  by  such  means 
alone  that  laws  obtain  a  whole-hearted  respect. 

The  second  principle  that  will  guide  us  is  an 
increased  faith  in  the  child,  and  a  belief  that  as 
we  trust  him,  so  his  highest  and  noblest  faculties 
will  develop.  Rousseau  pointed  out  the  burning 


132      THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

desire  to  learn  and  the  rooted  dislike  of  force 
which  every  adolescent  possesses,  but  failed  to 
fully  realize  that  a  child  is  trustworthy  as  far 
as  he  is  accustomed  to  being  trusted,  and  that 
despotic  rules  alone  are  disliked  and  disobeyed. 

In  the  future  our  idea  of  discipline  will  change, 
self-assertion  will  be  encouraged  and  never  sup- 
pressed, and  hope  instead  of  fear  will  reign  in  our 
schools. 

The  fourth  sign  of  our  improved  ideas  of  education 
will  be  the  disappearance  of  that  vicious  circle  in 
which  to-day  we  punish  a  breach  of  discipline  by 
setting  up  further  and  more  exasperating  forms  of 
discipline.  The  quiet  and  well-ordered  discipline  of 
a  school  in  which  hundreds  of  rules  are  meekly 
obeyed  will  be  universally  condemned,  and  we  shall 
not  mistake  it  for  a  sign  of  high  tone  and  morality. 
Although  discipline  will  be  always  the  watchword  of 
the  incompetent,  it  will  be  recognized  also  as  the 
cloak  for  vice  and  mediocrity. 

If  it  is  true  that  in  society  criminality  waits  on 
civilization,  it  is  certainly  equally  true  in  schools  that 
immorality  waits  on  discipline.  The  present  boy  is 
so  controlled  and  so  looked  after  in  our  boarding 
schools  that  he  has  a  mind  free  to  wander  at  will  ; 
in  the  future,  when  he  looks  after  himself  a  little 
more,  he  will  use  more  of  his  personal  energy  and 
have  less  time  and  desire  to  wander  among  the 
byways  of  life. 

Another  sign  of  a  higher  and  clearer  concep- 
tion of  education  will  be  a  complete  change  in 
our  idea  of  what  we  should  suppress  in  the 
adolescent  and  what  allow.  More  sexual  per- 


SELF-ASSERTION  AND  DISCIPLINE  133 

version  is  due  to  the  suppression  of  comparatively 
harmless  acts  and  words  than  our  present  educa- 
tionists dream  of.  No  one  would  suggest  that 
doubtful  morality  should  be  encouraged  in  word 
or  deed,  but  before  we  decide  to  suppress  a  trivial 
allusion  which  our  acquired  sensitiveness  condemns, 
we  should  always  consider  the  consequences.  A 
famous  American  student  of  the  psychology  of 
sexual  perversion  wrote  the  following  :  "  Adolescent 
laughter  is  occasionally  disgusting  and  often  offends 
us,  but  if  we  realized  how  much  potentiality  for 
sexual  evil  evaporated  with  that  laughter,  we  might 
restrain  our  condemnation,  and  be  more  frightened 
by  its  absence  than  its  presence." 

We  are  beginning  to  realize  that  in  dealing  with 
boys  there  are  but  two  principles — toleration  and 
intimacy  or  regulation  and  spying ;  and  though 
for  centuries  we  have  chosen  the  latter,  we  are 
slowly  but  surely  realizing  the  advantages  of  the 
former.  Constant  supervision  and  suspicion  are 
already  beginning  to  give  place  to  a  more  healthy 
and  wholesome  atmosphere  in  our  schools ;  the 
role  of  detective  has  never  been  a  pleasant  one 
for  the  schoolmaster,  and  we  are  beginning  to  follow 
the  example  of  Ireland,  and  to  condemn  the  system 
of  spying  among  both  masters  and  boys. 

In  some  preparatory  schools  the  public-school 
system  is  no  longer  slavishly  imitated,  and  masters 
are  living,  sleeping,  and  eating  with  their  boys. 
Such  schools,  although  few  in  number,  are  already 
conspicuous  for  their  wholesome  tone,  and  their 
example  should  point  the  way  to  a  healthier  system 
of  school  management. 


134      THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

And,  lastly,  we  shall  in  the  future  be  better 
acquainted  with  what  we  may  call  the  sexual 
physiology  of  school  life — the  influence  of  such  things 
as  alcohol,  meat,  and  heat  on  sexual  morality.  What- 
ever may  be  desirable  among  adults,  it  is  certain 
that  during  adolescence  nothing  should  be  done  to 
increase  sexual  propensity  ;  the  time  is  not  ripe 
for  the  maturer  realizations  of  sexual  emotion,  and 
any  increase  of  desire  may  often  mean  an  increase 
of  sexual  perversion. 

Although  it  is  unusual  to  allow  adolescents  to 
drink  spirits,  beer  is  still  common  in  many  schools  ; 
it  may  not  be  so  injurious  in  the  middle  of  the  day 
as  in  the  evening,  but  there  seems  little  reason  why 
at  any  time  we  should  use  this  certain  method  of 
increasing  sexual  desire  among  boys.  There  are 
many  ways  of  strengthening  a  growing  adolescent 
without  endangering  his  sexual  morality,  and  if  a 
boy's  nervous  system  is  weak,  any  tonic  which  is 
likely  to  arouse  his  sexual  feelings  must  be  the 
worst  possible. 

The  effect  of  meat  closely  resembles  that  of 
alcohol,  and  there  are  many  forms  of  nourishment  as 
strengthening  as  meat  and  much  less  sexually 
exciting.  The  reaction  of  parents  against  the  semi- 
starvation  which  boys  used  to  endure  at  boarding 
schools  is  no  doubt  excellent,  but  in  advocating 
increased  food  we  should  guard  against  those  forms 
of  nourishment  which  excite  the  very  emotions  we 
wish  most  to  suppress.  The  unappetizing  meat 
which  is  still  often  a  part  of  the  school  meal  is 
frequently  a  blessing  in  disguise.  Boys  who  are 
highly  strung  and  most  liable  to  sexual  perversion 


SELF-ASSERTION  AND  DISCIPLINE  135 

and  to  feel  its  consequences  most  seriously  are 
usually  those  who  crave  most  for  meat ;  and  while 
good  nourishment  is  essential,  we  should  not,  in  the 
direction  of  a  flesh  diet,  exceed  the  amount  neces- 
sary for  normal  development.  If  meat  is  allowed, 
as  it  often  is,  twice  a  day,  the  amount  should  be 
small,  and  none  should  be  allowed  after  the  midday 
meal.  The  amount  of  food  of  any  kind  should 
gradually  decrease  towards  evening,  and  the  boy 
who  goes  to  bed  moderately  hungry  is  the  boy 
who  usually  wakes  most  refreshed. 

In  regard  to  the  effects  of  heat  we  have  also 
suffered  from  an  ignorance  which  has  greatly 
hindered  us  in  direct  efforts  to  improve  morality. 
Heat,  especially  at  night,  is  most  unhealthy  during 
adolescence,  and  yet  many  schoolmasters,  yielding  to 
the  requests  of  parents  or  out  of  regard  to  their  own 
comfort,  often  keep  classrooms  and  dormitories  at 
a  far  higher  temperature  than  is  necessary  or  advis- 
able. If  our  boys  are  delicate  we  are  not  likely  to 
make  them  stronger  by  overheating  their  rooms,  and 
rendering  them  liable  to  sexual  desires  and  immoral 
perversions. 

The  head  master  who  thoroughly  understands  the 
effects  of  alcohol,  heat,  and  meat,  will  be  possessed  of 
the  first  essentials  for  an  improvement  in  school 
morality  ;  it  is  not,  however,  many  masters  who  at 
present  realize  the  environmental  factors  of  morality, 
and  how  much  external  surroundings  influence  the 
form  of  self-assertion.  At  present  the  schoolmaster 
covers  his  ignorance  both  of  the  psychology  and 
physiology  of  adolescence  by  a  blind  eulogy  of 
discipline. 


CHAPTER  VI 

SELF-ASSERTION  :   THE   PSYCHOLOGIST'S   ASPECT 

he  atmosphere  of  our  schools — Examinations — Memory  :  its  use 
and  its  abuse — The  possibilities  of  self-assertion  in  various 
studies :  Classics,  mathematics,  history  and  geography,  handi- 
craft, drawing,  design,  piano-playing,  natural  history,  acting 
— A  few  conclusions. 

THE  ATMOSPHERE    OF    OUR  LARGE  PREPARATORY 
SCHOOLS. — There  are  few  who,  on  entering  one  of 
our  large  preparatory  schools  for  the  first  time,  are 
not  struck  by  the  strange  rarefied  atmosphere  that 
seems  to  prevail.    The  busy  world  with  its  thousand 
activities  is  but  a  few  yards  away,  the  constant  roar 
of  a  great  town  may,  perhaps,  be  heard  in  the  dis- 
tance, but  the  school  knows  none  of  its  activities, 
sympathizes  with  none  of  its  anxieties,  appreciates 
neither  its  pleasures  nor  its  pains.     To  some  there 
may  come  a  sense  of  loneliness,  to  others  a  feeling  of 
peace ;  some  may  sigh  because  they  realize  that  for 
the  moment  sorrow  and  worry  have  been  left  outside  ; 
others   because   they   feel    that    the   whole  joyful 
activity  of  life  has  gone  from  them.     But  whether  a 
sense  of  joy  or  sorrow  predominates,  there  are  few 
who  enter  a  large  boarding  school  without  being 
conscious  of  the  fact  that  the  school  wall  divides 
them  effectually  for  good  or  evil  from  all  the  myriad 
interests  of  the  great  world  outside. 

136 


SELF-ASSERTION:  THE  PSYCHOLOGIST'S  ASPECT    137 

As  the  visitor  turns  to  study  the  environment  in 
which  he  finds  himself,  he  discovers  that  the  strange- 
ness is  largely  due  to  the  impersonal  atmosphere 
which  pervades  our  large  boarding  schools.  Nothing 
in  the  school  is  of  real  interest  to  anybody,  because 
everything  is  planned  for  the  amusement  or  instruc- 
tion of  everybody  :  classes  for  work,  teams  for  play, 
have  not  been  chosen  for  particular  boys ;  the  boys 
have  been  chosen  for  the  class  or  team. 

In  our  English  idea  of  education  schools  are  not 
places  whither  people  go  to  learn  ;  they  are  establish- 
ments to  which  people  are  sent  to  be  taught.  To 
the  preparatory  school  the  boy  is  sent  when  he  is 
ten,  to  the  public  school  he  is  sent  when  he  is  four- 
teen, to  the  University  he  is  sent  when  he  is  nineteen, 
and  he  is  often  still  being  sent  somewhere  when  he  is 
twenty-five  or  thirty.  Occasionally  an  under- 
graduate at  the  University,  whose  self-assertive 
powers  have  not  been  entirely  crushed,  forgets  that 
he  is  a  parcel  in  the  hands  of  carriers,  and,  imagining 
for  a  moment  that  he  is  a  human  being,  breaks 
through  the  rules  of  the  place  in  which  he  has  been 
deposited.  We,  however,  are  careful  not  to  forget 
that  he  is  a  parcel,  and  in  the  same  way  in  which  we 
sent  him  up  to  the  University  we  now  proceed  to  send 
him  down.  When  we  have  received  the  delinquent 
once  more,  we  are  often  puzzled  as  to  his  next 
destination ;  but  we  never  doubt  for  a  moment  that 
he  must  be  sent  somewhere,  and  that  to  allow  him 
to  direct  his  own  life  would  be  an  irretrievable  and 
foolish  mistake.  Sometimes  a  man  or  woman  whose 
spirit  has  not  been  entirely  crushed  by  being  in  the 
position  of  a  parcel  for  twenty  years,  does  decide  to 


138      THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

go  somewhere  or  do  something,  but  usually  our 
adolescent,  although  grown  almost  to  maturity, 
humbly  waits  to  be  sent  to  a  place  which  we  have 
chosen,  and  which  we  think  good. 

The  studies  at  the  large  preparatory  schools  are 
not  arranged  to  capture  the  interest  or  curiosity  of 
the  boy  ;  the  subjects  chosen  are  those  which  some 
unknown  external  authority  has  decided  should 
interest  him.  To  ask  a  boy  of  ten,  fourteen,  or 
even  nineteen,  what  subjects  he  is  interested  in, 
and  where  he  would  like  to  study  them,  would 
be  to  show  a  weakness  of  parental  character  only 
permissible  in  England  among  the  poorer  classes. 
In  American  schools  the  spirit  of  life  and  energy 
compares  strangely  with  the  fact-megalomania  and 
strange  artificiality  of  our  English  ideas  of  educa- 
tion. We  can  trace  the  difference  to  two  causes— 
the  first  concerns  the  masters,  the  second  the  boys. 

"  In  America,"  writes  an  educational  authority 
whose  experiences  cover  two  continents,  "school- 
masters are  men  first  and  masters  second ;  they 
bring  much  of  the  atmosphere  of  the  outside  world 
into  the  classroom,  and  in  technical  subjects  the 
professors  are  often  men  who,  out  of  school  hours, 
carry  on  the  same  profession  which  they  teach.  For 
this  reason  they  are  interested  in  their  work,  and 
draw  out  the  intelligence  of  their  pupils  in  a  manner 
which  the  mere  instiller  of  facts  can  never  accom- 
plish." 

The  second  factor  which  in  America  makes  educa- 
tion far  more  real  is  that  the  pupils  feel  that  their 
learning  will  soon  be  turned  into  tangible  and 
pecuniary  profit.  The  saying,  "If  thou  wilt  not 


SELF-ASSERTION:  THE  PSYCHOLOGIST'S  ASPECT    139 

work,  neither  shalt  thou  eat,"  lies  ingrained  in  the 
mind  of  American  education.  A  wide  education  gives 
the  grown  man  self-confidence  in  pursuits  other  than 
his  own ;  he  will  often  change  his  situation,  methods, 
and  profession  at  a  moment's  notice,  and  yet  con- 
tinue successfully  in  his  career.  Although  Americans 
have  often  been  accused  of  being  ambitious  and 
nothing  else,  the  criticism  is  not  so  severe  as  it 
seems,  for  ambition  carries  many  virtues  with  it, 
and  prevents  many  vices  from  becoming  dangerous. 
"  In  after-life,"  says  Mr.  Groser  of  the  Moseley 
Commission,  "  the  American's  application  of  his  early 
education  is  conspicuous.  If  I  told  my  American 
lads  half  what  I  told  my  secretaries  in  England, 
I  should  at  once  have  an  opposition  firm  started  on 
my  own  lines  across  the  street." 

Along  narrow  lines  the  spirit  of  ambition  is  some- 
times encouraged  in  our  schools  in  England,  but  if 
it  deviates  from  the  courses  fixed  by  our  traditions 
it  receives  little  sympathy.  It  is  a  lamentable  fact 
that  the  boy  who  is  good  at  work  is  often  a  tame 
and  uninteresting  character,  whom  we  try  to  admire, 
but  secretly  despise  ;  while  the  clever  law-breaker 
whom  we  punish  openly  we  covertly  adore.  Willy- 
nilly,  a  boy  inhales  a  subtle  atmosphere  from  his 
teacher,  and  in  spirit  the  master  often  joins  his  more 
intelligent  pupils  in  despising  the  ideals  of  our  present 
system  of  education. 

EXAMINATIONS. — The  system  of  examination  has 
reigned  so  long  in  our  ideas  of  school  life  that  it  will, 
no  doubt,  still  exist  for  a  considerable  period ;  but  it 
is  at  present  receiving  almost  as  much  criticism  in 


140      THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

England  as  in  America,  and  the  keener  its  critics,  the 
more  obvious  become  its  faults,  and  the  sooner  must 
come  its  inevitable  end.  Even  among  adults  we  are 
discovering  that  the  best  men  are  not  those  who 
have  been  chosen  by  examinations,  and  there  is  a 
growing  feeling  that  the  great  men  in  almost  every 
branch  of  life  have  succeeded  in  spite  of,  and  not 
because  of,  the  examinations  they  were  subjected 
to.  "I  got  over  both  my  examinations  and  my 
measles  without  any  very  permanent  mental  dis- 
turbance," writes  one  of  our  most  learned  educa- 
tional authorities. 

Although  the  vast  majorities  of  educational 
scientists  are  unanimous  in  condemning  examinations 
as  the  curse  of  education,  there  are  several  factors 
which  stand  in  the  way  of  reform.  There  is  tradition 
and  the  knowledge  that  some,  although  not  nearly 
all,  of  our  great  men  have  passed  examinations 
creditably.  There  is  personal  convenience  and  the 
conviction  of  the  lazy  master  that  there  is  no  better 
way  of  forming  an  opinion  of  a  boy's  capability. 
And  there  is  the  universal  but  illogical  idea  that  the 
link  between  our  various  schools  must  necessarily  be 
an  examination.  There  are  many  masters  who  fully 
realize  the  present  evils,  but  who  refrain  from  any 
change  through  fear  of  handicapping  the  adoles- 
cent in  his  struggle  for  existence  ;  they  consider 
that  it  is  better  to  adapt  their  pupils  to  an  evil 
system  which  exists  than  to  a  good  system  which 
does  not. 

All  the  schools  in  England  are  at  present  so 
dependent  on  the  system  of  examination  that  we 
must  wait  for  reforms  until  they  can  take  place  in 


SELF-ASSERTION:  THE  PSYCHOLOGIST'S  ASPECT    141 

several  quarters  at  the  same  time.  In  the  study  of 
educational  theory,  however,  we  must  take  a  syn- 
thetic view  which  ignores  the  practical  barriers  to 
progress,  even  when,  as  in  this  case,  they  are  so  far- 
reaching  and  universal.  In  such  practical  matters 
as  the  choosing  of  Government  officials  our  blind 
faith  in  the  examination  is  lessening,  and  although 
we  must  wait  for  a  gradual  change  of  public 
sentiment,  the  abolition  of  the  examination  is,  in 
the  opinion  of  most  authorities,  only  a  matter  of 
time. 

Examinations  have  been  deemed  an  evil  since  the 
days  of  Dr.  Arnold,  and  although  he  advocated  a 
more  personal  system  of  selection  as  a  substitute,  he 
saw  little  hope  of  the  change  he  desired.  To-day 
the  objections  to  examinations  have  been  far  more 
recognized,  and  even  without  a  very  great  increase 
of  teachers  several  schools  have  abolished  the  system 
with  excellent  results  :  the  passage  from  one  school 
to  a  more  advanced  one  has  been  regulated  by 
the  general  work  of  several  years,  and  not  by 
the  number  of  marks  obtained  at  a  particular  ex- 
amination. 

In  America  the  system  of  accredited  schools,  in 
which  all  boys  who  have  attained  a  certain  standard 
are  admitted  to  a  more  advanced  school,  has  already 
done  much  to  destroy  the  prevalence  of  examina- 
tions ;  the  arrangement  has  proved  to  have  many 
advantages,  and  in  the  new  system  masters  tend  to 
regard  the  general  ability  of  their  class  with  far 
greater  care,  and  no  longer  ruin  the  chances  of  the 
average  boy  by  an  excessive  regard  to  a  few  pre- 
cocious and  abnormally  clever  pupils. 


142     THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

With  the  downfall  of  the  examination  will  come 
also  the  end  of  the  system  of  pecuniary  rewards,  and 
masters  will  have  to  train  their  boys  for  success  in  life 
instead  of  success  in  obtaining  a  scholarship.  The  task 
will  be  a  far  more  formidable  one.  At  present  the 
scholarship  boy  knows  a  great  deal,  and  can  repeat 
what  he  is  taught  with  an  accuracy  almost  incredible  ; 
but  when  one  has  said  that  one  has  said  all.  The  ap- 
plication of  knowledge  is  to  him  an  unknown  science, 
and  having  omitted  this  essential  part  of  his  education, 
the  knowledge  of  facts  that  we  have  taught  him 
becomes  mere  lumber  in  after-life.  It  was,  I  think, 
Walter  Pater  who  remarked  that  he  only  cared 
to  talk  to  pass-men  at  the  University,  since  the 
honour-men  were  so  busy  preparing  their  minds 
to  yield  the  mental  pate  defois  gras  required  by  the 
examinations  that  they  had  no  time  for  educating 
themselves. 

There  is  a  natural  desire  during  adolescence  to 
apply  facts,  and  it  has  required  the  united  effort  of 
all  the  evil  forces  of  our  educational  system  to  kill 
it.  We  have,  however,  been  successful  in  our  task. 
By  concentrated  and  prolonged  efforts,  we  have 
succeeded  in  stuffing  so  many  facts  into  our  ado- 
lescents that  the  machinery  of  their  mind,  once 
active  and  keen  to  make  use  of  them,  has  by  the 
time  they  are  adults  been  hopelessly  weakened  and 
destroyed.  It  is  only  when  our  schools  constantly 
combine  the  teaching  of  facts  with  their  applica- 
tion, and  when,  while  instilling  knowledge,  they 
keep  the  machinery  of  application  in  working  order, 
that  we  shall  have  an  adult  who  truly  fulfils  the 
promise  of  adolescence. 


SELF-ASSERTION :   THE  PSYCHOLOGIST'S  ASPECT    143 

MEMORY  :  ITS  USE  AND  ITS  ABUSE. — The  ability  to 
learn  quickly  and  to  remember  precisely  is  often  due 
to  an  energy  of  mind  which,  if  allowed  to  make  use 
of  facts  instead  of  merely  to  learn  them,  would  show 
considerable  capability.  Memory,  however,  is  a 
good  servant  but  a  bad  master,  and  when  once  the 
idea  of  a  good  memory  loses  its  position  of  servant 
and  is  established  in  the  child's  mind  as  an  end  in 
itself,  a  subtle  change  takes  place  ;  the  mere  effort 
of  receiving  facts  arid  giving  them  out  seems  to 
afford  unqualified  satisfaction  to  school  teachers  and 
parents  alike,  and  the  adolescent  slowly  but  surely 
loses  the  ability  to  create  new  ideas  out  of  the 
association  of  the  facts  which  he  learns.  Self- 
expression  may  find  covert  outlets,  as  we  have 
shewn  in  the  previous  chapters,  but  a  great  amount 
of  the  energy  which  might  be  expended  in  linking 
facts  in  reasonable  and  perhaps  original  association 
is  wasted  in  the  barren  but  often  difficult  task  of 
remembering  their  disconnected  and  unapplied 
existence.  The  whole  being  of  the  adolescent 
becomes  a  simple  automaton,  and  this  he  remains 
during  the  whole  of  his  adult  life.  Facts  are 
insisted  on  to  such  an  extent  that  the  reason  for 
their  remembrance  is  obliterated  from  the  mind  of 
both  the  master  and  pupil. 

The  man  who  is  used  to  remembering  facts  because 
he  has  made  use  of  them,  and  has  associated  them 
with  other  facts  which  he  has  learnt,  is  like  a  fisher 
possessed  of  a  net.  When  his  work  necessitates  an 
effort  of  memory,  he  lets  his  net  down  into  his  sea 
of  knowledge.  Perhaps  he  does  not  realize  exactly 
what  fact  he  wishes  to  know,  or  even  precisely 


144      THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

where  it  lies,  but  he  knows  the  neighbourhood  in 
which  facts  useful  to  his  purpose  are  likely  to  exist. 
Slowly  and  carefully  he  sweeps  his  net  along,  and 
gathers,  closely  entwined,  the  facts  that  are  likely 
to  be  useful  and  connected  with  the  work  he  has  in 
hand.  He  may  be  slow  in  landing  the  haul,  his 
memory  may  not  be  quick,  but  at  last  the  facts  are 
all  before  him  ready  for  his  use,  and  connected  by 
the  net  which  his  intelligence  has  woven. 

The  man  possessed  of  what  is  usually  termed  a 
good  memory  has  no  net  of  reason  by  which  he 
captures  the  facts  which  he  wishes  to  remember ;  he 
would  be  puzzled  by  the  haul,  even  if  he  had  the 
intelligence  to  land  all  the  facts  connected  with  his 
work ;  he  fishes  with  a  line  on  which  is  fixed  the 
exact  bait  to  capture  the  fact  he  wants,  and  nothing 
more.  Into  the  sea  of  facts  he  has  once  learnt  his 
line  is  lowered,  and  as  if  by  magic  the  fact  he  wishes 
lies  bare  and  glistening  at  his  feet,  with  not  the 
smallest  piece  of  seaweed  to  trace  the  region  of 
thought  whence  it  came.  Such  a  memory  is  the 
product  of  a  system  of  examination ;  and  although 
the  possessor  of  a  good  memory  is  an  adept  at 
producing  a  fact  at  a  moment's  notice,  his  ability  is 
exhausted  in  the  single  feat.  It  is  to  the  man  with 
the  net  alone  that  the  joy  of  unexpected  discovery 
belongs.  He  hauls  in  many  facts,  only  half-conscious 
of  their  ultimate  use ;  almost  by  instinct  his  net  of 
reason  brings  back  to  consciousness  all  the  facts  in 
the  region  which  he  is  exploring. 

There  are  many  subjects  in  which  an  automatic 
memory  seems  more  essential  than  the  more  con- 
scious memory  that  recalls  facts  from  their  close 


SELF-ASSERTION:  THE  PSYCHOLOGIST'S  ASPECT    145 

association,  and  the  results  which  they  have 
helped  to  obtain.  But  for  the  increasing  joy  of 
humanity,  which  always  loves  to  reason  and  dis- 
cover, we  hope  these  subjects  will  steadily  decrease 
with  the  invention  of  machinery,  and  that  human 
intelligence  will  be  left  freer  to  perform  tasks  more 
suited  to  its  best  capabilities. 

Whether  this  dream  be  realized  or  not,  there  is 
one  important  fallacy  in  education  which  should  be 
exposed  ruthlessly.  Persons  ignorant  alike  of 
psychology  and  of  education  often  state  that  certain 
lessons,  although  useless  in  themselves,  train  the 
memory  ;  the  statement  suggests  that  automatic 
training  of  memory  encourages  the  development  of 
that  higher  form  of  memory  which  relies  on  associa- 
tion :  in  reality  it  does  the  exact  reverse.  The 
fallacy  owes  its  origin  to  the  strange  idea  that  an 
automatic  memory  is  a  thing  to  be  cultivated  for 
itself,  and  not  merely  a  convenience  which  should 
only  be  used  when  no  more  useful  and  rational 
method  of  remembrance  is  available.  To  train  the 
memory  on  a  subject  that  does  not  interest  the 
adolescent  is  usually  to  train  the  memory  on  a 
subject  which  in  his  mind  is  linked  with  few  others, 
and  therefore  to  cultivate  just  that  sort  of  automatic 
and  detached  memory  which  leads  to  the  utter 
annihilation  of  any  original,  rational,  or  progressive 
thought. 

The  enormous  amount  of  rules  of  grammar  and  of 
syntax  which  are  taught  for  years  at  our  boys' 
schools  before  any  real  translation  is  attempted 
is  a  remarkable  instance  of  the  kind  of  work  which 
requires  a  good  automatic  memory  and  little  else. 

10 


146      THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

If  a  class  of  boys  were  asked  why  the  Latin  word 
"  regina  "  was  feminine,  nearly  all  would  answer, 
"  Because  words  ending  in  '  a  '  of  the  first  declension 
are  feminine ; "  there  would  be  few,  probably,  who 
would  even  have  the  intelligence  to  remark  that  the 
word  means  "  queen,"  and  that  queens  were  usually 
women.  The  boy's  own  method  of  retaining  words 
and  their  gender  would  often  be  more  useful  to  him- 
self than  the  rules  instilled  by  the  master,  but  when 
a  boy  tries  to  invent  or  realize  the  connection  of 
words  he  is  liable  to  make  grave  mistakes,  and  the 
master,  unwilling  to  depart  from  a  rule  of  thumb  in 
his  opinion  perfectly  satisfactory,  suppresses  any 
sign  of  originality  on  the  part  of  the  adolescent  who 
desires  to  think  for  himself.  When  we  have  once 
taught  schoolmasters  that  remembering  is  not  think- 
ing, but  is  often  the  exact  reverse,  we  shall  have 
gone  a  great  way  not  only  towards  an  ideal  educa- 
tion, but  towards  the  wider,  freer,  and  more  rapid 
growth  of  science  and  knowledge. 

If  we  glance  for  a  moment  at  any  of  the  classical 
or  mathematical  papers  set  at  our  preparatory 
schools,  and  based  on  the  entrance  examinations  to 
the  public  schools,  we  shall  observe  that  practically 
every  paper  is  set  to  test  automatic  memory  and 
nothing  else.  Perhaps  the  questions  are  intended 
to  occupy  an  hour,  and  they  are  twelve  in  number. 
The  boy  runs  his  eye  down  the  paper  in  a  few 
minutes.  If  he  has  a  good  automatic  memory  the 
answer  to  each  question  occurs  to  him  at  once,  and 
but  for  the  physical  task  of  writing,  his  work  is 
over  ;  the  memory  he  used  was  devoid  of  practically 
all  intellectual  thought :  the  answer  came  at  once, 


SELF-ASSERTION  :  THE  PSYCHOLOGIST'S  ASPECT   147 

with  no  hesitation  and  with  little  connection  with 
other  facts.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  he  does  not 
remember  the  answer  to  the  questions  in  the  paper, 
his  task  is  equally  short.  Anybody  gifted  with  an 
automatic  memory  will  agree  that  if  the  fact 
required  is  not  remembered  at  once  further  thought 
is  usually  fruitless.  The  automatic  thinker  has 
failed  to  find  the  answer  he  wants  ;  he  is  ignorant 
of  facts  with  which  it  is  connected,  and  he  therefore 
does  not  know  the  region  in  which  to  continue  the 
search. 

There  is  little  doubt  that  if  the  school  lessons 
were  connected  with  each  other,  and  not  completely 
detached,  as  they  are  at  present,  there  would  be  less 
automatic  memory  of  facts,  more  connected  thought, 
and  a  greater  unity  of  purpose  than  exists  at 
present.  "  The  use  of  a  microscope,"  said  Goethe, 
"  impairs  the  use  of  the  normal  eye,"  and  much 
of  our  school  work  is  done  with  a  microscope,  at  an 
age  when  study  should  be  broad  and  synthetic. 
The  boy  who  from  ten  to  twenty- two  has  studied 
nothing  but  classics  or  mathematics  turns  a  partially 
developed  mind  to  the  world  outside  when  he  is  at 
last  confronted  with  it.  The  social  problems  around 
us  are  daily  demanding  a  more  synthetic  education 
from  all  classes  in  the  community,  while  the  general 
wisdom  of  our  upper  classes  depends  rather  on  how 
little  instead  of  how  much  attention  they  have  paid 
to  the  narrow  field  of  school  studies  which  is  almost 
invariably  their  lot. 

When  we  say  that  in  Germany  and  Switzerland 
education  is  more  practical  than  in  England,  we 
merely  mean  that  they  have  discovered  that  the 


148      THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

adolescent  must  lead  the  way,  and  that  education 
must  follow ;  that  the  adolescent  must  not  be  made, 
as  in  this  country,  the  slave  of  an  educational 
system.  No  method  of  education  is  in  itself 
"practical"  ;  what  is  of  interest  to  the  boy  and 
develops  to  the  full  his  latent  talents — that,  and 
that  only,  will  be  a  practical  education  for  his 
future  life. 

There  is,  however,  another  and  equally  important 
way  in  which  the  word  "  practical "  is  used  in  educa- 
tion. When  some  of  our  greatest  educational  authori- 
ties contend  that  teaching  must  be  practical,  they 
mean  that  after  every  lesson  which  an  adolescent  is 
given  there  must  always  follow  some  immediate  appli- 
cation of  the  knowledge  he  has  acquired  ;  some  act  of 
thought,  of  self-realization  and  self-expression,  must 
be  connected  with  every  paper  that  is  set,  and 
almost  every  question  that  is  asked. 

At  this  point  we  come  face  to  face  with  the  fact- 
megalomaniacs  ;  they  contend  that  the  young  adoles- 
cent knows  so  little  that  he  must  be  taught  facts, 
again  facts,  and  again  more  facts,  before  he  can 
venture  on  any  ideas  of  his  own,  or  on  any  practical 
result  of  what  he  is  learning.  Such  educationists 
generally  consider  the  child's  mind  much  more 
empty  than  it  really  is,  and  they  forget  the  educa- 
tion that  takes  place  out  of  school ;  yet,  if  I  were 
teaching  a  child  the  first  fact  he  ever  knew,  I  should 
insist  on  some  rational  application  of  the  result  of 
the  fact  I  had  just  taught.  If  the  best  possible 
mind  is  to  be  produced,  it  is  a  great  mistake  to  have 
periods  of  prolonged  preparation  devoted  to  the 
absorption  of  endless  facts,  which  are  only  to  be  used 


SELF-ASSERTION:  THE  PSYCHOLOGIST'S  ASPECT    149 

in  the  distant  future  and  for  some  vague  and  half- 
realized  purpose.  The  natural  state  of  mind  during 
adolescence  is  most  unsuited  for  this  mode  of  in- 
struction. If  we  train  the  adolescent  successfully  to 
absorb  facts  without  using  them,  we  handicap  him 
very  seriously  in  after-life  ;  if  we  fail  in  our  task, 
we  imbue  him  with  a  false  idea  of  learning  and  a 
hatred  of  study  which  he  will  probably  never  lose  as 
long  as  he  lives.  During  adolescence  a  boy  has  a 
vast  fund  of  creative  energy  and  an  inquiring  mind, 
two  of  the  greatest  assets  for  a  real  education.  He 
may  at  first  prefer  to  watch  effects  rather  than  to 
study  causes,  but  if  we  link  the  two  together  we  shall 
probably  find  that  he  appreciates  both,  and  that  we 
alone  were  stopping  his  innate  desire  to  learn.  It  is 
the  fact  allied  to  a  definite  purpose  that  occupies  an 
honoured  position  in  the  adolescent  mind. 

THE  POSSIBILITIES  OF  SELF-ASSERTION  IN  VARIOUS 
STUDIES. — There  are  certain  activities  of  mind  and 
body  that  appear  to  the  casual  observer  to  form 
a  more  ready  means  for  adolescent  self-assertion  than 
others ;  but  the  difference  is  chiefly  in  the  mind  of 
the  observer.  The  matter  rests  on  the  personality 
of  the  boy  or  girl.  In  all  studies  some  adolescents 
can  find  outlets  for  their  inquiring  minds  and  desire 
for  self-realization,  and  there  is  no  study  in  which 
all  adolescents  will  find  an  equal  outlet  for  the  all- 
powerful  energy  which  craves  for  expression ;  yet, 
apart  from  the  personal  element  which  is  so  large  a 
factor,  there  is  little  doubt  that  the  manner  of  pre- 
senting almost  every  subject  to  the  adolescent  is 
capable  of  a  very  great  improvement. 


150     THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

Classics. — In  no  department  of  education  is  there 
a  greater  need  for  a  revision  of  method  than  in  the 
teaching  of  classics.  At  the  preparatory  school  the 
whole  of  the  hour  devoted  to  translation  is  given 
over  to  the  word  for  word  translation  of  short 
passages  from  Greek  or  Latin  authors ;  few  would 
deny  that  quite  half  the  time  should  be  devoted  to 
an  attempt  to  grasp  the  spirit  of  the  age,  the 
character  of  the  author,  and  the  ideas  underlying 
the  particular  work  which  is  being  translated. 

The  spirit  of  the  classical  period,  appreciation  of 
which  is  really  the  sole  object  of  learning  the 
language,  is  completely  lost  sight  of  when  the  whole 
time  allotted  to  classics  is  spent  in  dreary  translations 
of  Xenophon's  forced  marches,  or  a  vain  attempt  to 
grasp  the  intricate  Greek  of  the  "(Edipus  Tyrannus." 
Some  affirm  that  the  atmosphere  of  the  age  could 
well  be  grasped  by  reading  English  translations  of 
the  works,  but  such  arguments  are  powerless  when 
the  upholders  of  the  classics  affirm  that  a  subtle 
training  is  obtained  through  the  actual  translation 
of  Greek  and  Latin,  which  no  other  study  can  give. 
Yet,  whatever  may  be  the  power  of  this  subtle 
influence,  there  is  little  doubt  that  the  actual  con- 
struing should  be  daily  enlivened  by  a  mastery  of 
the  spirit  of  what  is  being  translated  ;  it  is  surely 
patent  to  all  that  a  discussion  on  the  thoughts  of, 
for  instance,  Marcus  Aurelius  and  Plato  should  form 
a  necessary  adjunct  to  the  bare  and  often  soulless 
translations  of  their  writings  which  to-day  is  all 
that  is  required.  Such  discussions  would  give  a 
show  of  reason  for  the  study  of  a  dead  language, 
a  reason  seldom  grasped  by  the  boy  at  the  pre- 


SELF-ASSERTION:  THE  PSYCHOLOGIST'S  ASPECT    151 

paratory  school ;  and  although  "  boys  trained  in 
Latin  may  not  be  any  better  at  keeping  appoint- 
ments" (Times,  January  2,  1912),  they  would  at 
least  be  conscious  of  the  reasons  of  their  elders  for 
forcing  these  studies  upon  them. 

However  important  Latin  prose  and  Greek  verse 
may  be  to  adolescent  development,  little  benefit  will 
be  obtained  from  their  study  if  English  prose  and 
poetry  are  not  studied  at  the  same  time.  At  present 
so  little  attention  is  given  to  English  in  schools  that 
the  boy  who  translates  his  Greek  and  Latin  with 
greatest  ease  often  renders  it  into  a  language  of 
which  he  knows  little,  and  gets  the  minimum  of  real 
meaning  from  his  translation. 

Mathematics. — In  mathematics  improvements  have 
already  begun,  arbitrary  rules  need  no  longer 
be  learnt,  and  the  problems  which  teach  the 
boy  to  apply  his  knowledge  already  form  a  con- 
spicuous part  of  most  papers,  even  of  the  most 
elementary  kind.  That  the  study  might  be  made 
more  alive  by  its  association  with  the  pocket- 
money  which  every  boy  ought  to  possess  seems 
probable.  The  management  of  money  generally 
comes  far  too  suddenly  and  unexpectedly  among  our 
boys  and  girls,  and  if  mathematics  and  pocket-money 
were  closely  allied,  the  former  might  become  more 
iDteresting  and  the  latter  more  carefully  adminis- 
tered. 

It  seems  probable,  also,  that  mathematics  might  be 
allied  with  social  questions,  such  as  the  selling  of  the 
products  of  industry  and  the  idea  of  contract,  both 
of  which  should  certainly  form  a  real  part  of  the 
training  of  the  boy  in  the  higher  forms  of  preparatory 


152      THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

schools.     At   present   it   might   be    paradoxical   to 
teach    the    relationship    of   apprentice    to    master 
and  the  law  of  contract  to  our  schoolboys,  whose 
life  is  regulated  by  a  purely  despotic  rule  with  all 
the  power  in  the  hands   of  one   party.     Perhaps, 
however,  an  idea  of  mutual  benefit  might  creep  in 
with   an    appreciation    of    free    contract,    and    the 
position  of  master  and  boy  become  more  natural. 
If  economics  were   taught   both   theoretically  and 
practically  in   school,    the   boys   and   girls    of   the 
future  might  grasp  the  fact  that  self-realization  is 
often  best  obtained  by  obedience  to  voluntary  con- 
tract, and  might  leave  their  schools  with  an  idea  of 
mutual   contract   and  voluntary  obedience   instead 
of  that   spirit   of  rebellion   against   all   authority, 
which  is  so  marked  a  sign  of  the  age.      Both  the 
directing   and    the    working    classes    could    derive 
nothing  but  benefit  from  a  study  of  contract  and 
the   actual   formation  of  agreements   during   their 
school-days. 

History  and  Geography.  —  Our  public  -  school 
examination  papers  do  not  encourage  boys  to  spend 
much  time  in  the  study  of  history  or  geography  ; 
both  could  probably  be  made  more  real  and  useful  by 
a  connection  with  other  studies  and  with  the  facts 
of  life,  and  in  this  way  the  boy  might  be  trained  to 
use  his  intellect,  thought,  and  observation,  rather 
than  his  memory  only.  Historical  geography  and 
geographical  history  should  both  be  taught,  and 
both  could  be  connected  with  classical  studies  by 
maps  of  the  towns  and  countries  described. 

A  map  of  the  school  and  of  the  surrounding 
country,  if  made  by  the  boy  himself,  gives  a  true 


SELF-ASSEETION :  THE  PSYCHOLOGIST'S  ASPECT    153 

appreciation   of  what   maps   are,  obtainable  in  no 
other  way. 

Handicraft. — It  is  in  creative  work,  however, 
that  the  average  adolescent  finds  more  easily  an 
outlet  for  his  self-assertive  cravings ;  there  is  a  spirit 
in  handicraft  which  appeals  peculiarly  to  the  creative 
mind,  and  if  this  same  spirit  could  be  instilled  into 
other  studies,  they  would  soon  appear  equally  attrac- 
tive to  many  adolescents.  There  is  at  present  a 
grave  danger  of  supposing  that  it  is  handicraft  itself 
that  is  essentially  captivating  to  the  young ;  this  is 
true  sometimes,  but  by  no  means  invariably,  and  we 
must  realize  that  it  is  the  spirit  of  this  work  rather 
than  its  particular  form  which  makes  it  stand  out 
so  prominently  among  the  various  occupations  of 
adolescence. 

Many  boys  find  delight  in  carpentering  and  other 
forms  of  handicraft,  but  golden  rules  in  favour  of 
these  subjects  are  as  dangerous  as  any  others.  The 
means  by  which  a  boy  can  best  develop  the  talent  he 
possesses  will  never  be  a  subject  on  which  we  can 
generalize.  Many  adolescents  spend  as  bored  and 
profitless  a  time  at  the  carpenter's  bench  as  they  did 
formerly  at  the  Latin  and  Greek  studies  which  a 
past  generation  held  essential ;  for  the  wealthy 
classes  especially,  carpentering  and  handicraft  often 
form  part  of  the  useless  lumber  of  facts  and  learning 
which,  having  no  connection  with  adult  life,  are  soon 
thrown  on  the  scrap-heap  of  knowledge. 

Drawing. — In  drawing  many  adolescents  might 
obtain  a  joyful  expression  of  their  feelings ;  but  if 
drawing  were  made  from  living  models  instead  of 
dull  casts,  the  work  would  achieve  an  amount  of  self- 


154      THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

realization  only  a  fraction  of  which  is  obtained  under 
the  present  system.  The  amount  of  character  that 
even  the  uneducated  draughtsman  displays  in  his 
drawings  forms  an  adequate  testimony  to  the  in- 
dividuality which  drawing  undoubtedly  calls  forth. 
Copying  from  other  drawings  should  never  be 
allowed  unless  we  desire  the  future  generation 
to  grow  up  with  a  fixed  and  definite  idea  of  life 
gleaned  from  the  perception  of  others — a  generation 
who,  like  our  present  elementary  school  children, 
often  firmly  believe  that  a  cup  can  only  be  drawn 
in  one  position. 

Design.  —  Design  is  another  medium  for  self- 
expression  of  which  we  take  little  advantage  in 
our  poorer  schools,  and  none  at  all  in  our  large 
preparatory  or  public  schools.  "  The  consciousness 
of  power,"  writes  Mr.  Seth  Coward,  "  which  a  boy 
obtains  in  producing  a  good  design  overflows  all  his 
other  work.  Some  timid,  hesitating  lads  have  been 
simply  transformed  intellectually  under  its  influence. 
Such  a  boy  no  longer  does  merely  what  he  is  told ; 
he  works  because  he  enjoys  it,  because  he  feels  that 
by  work  he  can  achieve  something."  Personally,  I 
believe  that  with  suitable  boys  and  educated  masters 
such  a  spirit  might  be  instilled  into  almost  every 
form  of  work  and  play,  and  that  Mr.  Coward  merely 
shows  us  what  has  already  been  done  in  promoting 
self-expression  in  one  particular  direction. 

Piano-Playing. — Piano -play  ing,  even  if  no  great 
musical  ability  is  displayed,  has  already  been  dis- 
covered to  be  a  ready  and  easy  means  for  the  adoles- 
cent to  realize  and  express  himself.  The  drudgery 
may  be  soon  got  over  if  a  competent  teacher  is 


SELF-ASSERTION:  THE  PSYCHOLOGIST'S  ASPECT    155 

employed,  and  piano-playing,  even  in  a  simple  form,  is 
an  admirable  outlet  for  those  adolescent  cravings  the 
healthy  satisfaction  of  which  should  be  our  chief  duty. 

Natural  History. — Our  appreciation  of  the  value 
of  natural  history,  or  of  what  we  call  Nature- 
study,  is  growing  daily,  and  our  belief  in  it 
is  probably  developing  disproportionately  to  its 
value.  The  study  is  useful,  but  only  to  those 
interested.  Some  adolescents  have  found  happy 
escapes  from  a  classical  or  mathematical  training  in 
either  handicraft  or  natural  history,  and  it  is  extra- 
ordinary how  long  the  latter  has  been  omitted 
from  almost  every  school  curriculum.  There  are, 
however,  probably  just  as  few  who  find  the  best 
possible  means  of  self -development  in  handicraft 
and  Nature-study  as  in  classics  or  mathematics, 
and  if  we  set  up  four  studies  where  we  before  had 
only  two,  we  must  not  be  blinded  to  the  deficiency 
of  such  an  improvement,  and  must  ever  strive  for 
an  even  greater  range  of  opportunity. 

Acting. — The  last,  but  by  no  means  the  least 
important,  means  of  self-expression  which  I  shall 
treat  in  this  chapter  is  the  drama ;  in  plays  we 
have  both  a  means  of  teaching  history  and  a  method 
of  self-realization  almost  unlimited.  For  boys  and 
girls  it  is  equally  suitable,  and  if  both  act  together, 
a  legitimate  outlet  may  be  found  for  feelings  that,  if 
suppressed,  often  become  perverted.  At  present 
masters  are  often  apt  to  choose  plays  either  far 
below  or  far  above  the  comprehension  of  the  adoles- 
cent ;  and  although  too  simple  a  play  fails  to  give 
a  useful  opportunity  for  self-expression,  there  is 
probably  more  danger  in  the  opposite  direction. 


156     THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

Plays  are  chosen  far  beyond  the  comprehension  of 
the  actors  in  order  to  satisfy  the  maturer  tastes  of 
the  parents ;  plays  such  as  "  The  Twilight  of  the 
Gods,"  full  of  a  Homeric  or  Maeterlinckian  tone, 
offer  far  less  satisfaction  for  the  self-assertion  of 
young  actors  than  the  simpler  and  more  direct 
drama.  The  simpler  meaning  in  such  plays  is  often 
beneath,  and  the  subtler  meaning  above,  the  com- 
prehension of  the  adolescent. 

Some  excellent  books  have  been  written  giving 
suggestions  for  historical  plays,  and  if  the  boys  and 
girls  were  allowed  to  undertake  everything  con- 
nected with  the  performance,  the  good  effect  would 
not  be  limited  to  the  acting  itself — painting,  car- 
pentering, dressmaking,  singing,  all  form  part  of 
stage-management — and  the  play  would  in  many 
ways  be  a  useful  change  from  the  dull  and  un- 
imaginative pursuits  of  the  school  regime. 

A  FEW  CONCLUSIONS. — We  have  found  that  it 
is  not  easy  to  generalize  on  the  subjects  which 
offer  the  greatest  possibilities  for  self-expression  ; 
different  pursuits  please  different  adolescents,  and 
the  matter  will  always  remain  to  a  great  extent 
a  personal  one.  What  can  alone  be  done,  and  what 
this  chapter  has  tried  to  show,  is  the  extent  to 
which  we  have  already  been  able  to  make  various 
studies  a  real  means  for  self-assertion,  and  not  a 
mere  stifling  of  a  desire  for  self-expression  by  an 
excessive  insistence  on  facts. 

It  is  important  to  realize  that  the  keen,  healthy- 
minded,  though  unathletic,  boy  is  not  so  rare  a 
phenomenon  as  is  supposed,  and  that  if  no  interest 


SELF-ASSERTION:  THE  PSYCHOLOGIST'S  ASPECT    157 

is  taken  in  the  play  and  work  we  provide,  the  fault 
may  very  likely  be  our  own.  The  root  of  much  of 
the  loafing  so  conspicuous  in  many  schools  is  due 
far  more  to  the  failure  of  the  environment  to  interest 
than  the  desire  of  the  boy  to  loaf.  Idling  is  not 
a  characteristic  of  adolescence,  and,  if  it  exists,  it  is 
not  cured  by  forced  activities.  It  is  by  encouraging, 
instead  of  suppressing,  voluntary  and  free  pursuits 
that  idleness  in  a  school  will  cease  to  exist.  The 
school  library,  which  should  form  an  admirable 
outlet  for  the  natural  tastes  of  some  adolescents, 
is  too  often  kept  for  pupils  selected  for  the  ability 
they  have  already  shown,  and  who  are  not  neces- 
sarily those  who  most  need  it.  A  library  with 
the  widest  possible  range  of  subjects  should  be  open 
to  every  boy  who  cares  to  use  it. 

Every  other  question  of  school  life  should  be 
sacrificed  to  giving  the  adolescent  a  wide  sphere  for 
the  satisfaction  of  his  healthy  desire  for  self-develop- 
ment ;  there  is  no  matter,  however  important,  that 
should  have  precedence  of  this  consideration.  By 
healthy  self-expression  and  by  healthy  self-realiza- 
tion all  that  is  best  in  the  boy  is  alone  developed, 
and  by  allowing  him  to  act  for  himself  all  that  is 
worst  is  frequently  suppressed. 

We  must  not  suppose  that  it  is  only  during 
adolescence  that  the  importance  of  self-expression 
becomes  evident ;  if  it  is  of  the  utmost  importance 
to  employ  the  mind  with  interesting  and  vital  occu- 
pations when  sexual  desires  are  dawning,  and  seek 
to  attract  all  the  attention,  surely  it  is  equally 
important  to  have  the  citadel  of  the  mind  occupied 
with  interesting  occupations  before  the  dawn  of 


158      THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

those  desires  whose  direct  satisfaction  must  he 
turned  to  indirect  use  by  a  "  long-circuit "  of  their 
energy.  If  the  presence  of  the  opposite  sex  in 
schools  is  going  to  lead,  as  it  has  already  done  in 
America,  to  the  "  long-circuit "  of  sexual  desire  and 
to  the  desire  for  wholesome  self-expression,  instead 
of  the  senseless  and  immediate  satisfaction  of  desire, 
then  surely,  for  this  reason,  if  for  no  other,  we  should 
change  our  system,  and  educate  our  boys  and  girls 
together. 

And,  lastly,  let  us  consider  the  daily  life  of  the 
healthy  boy  from  the  point  of  view  of  his  desire  for 
self-realization  and  for  self-expression.  The  adoles- 
cent rises  in  the  morning  anxious  for  new  experience 
and  craving  for  self-expression.  What  is  our  duty 
in  providing  occupation  ?  Is  it  to  see  that  the 
adolescent  is  taught  cricket  and  football,  Greek 
and  Latin,  or  is  it  to  insure  that  the  forces  which 
crave  for  expression  are  exhausted  in  some  healthy 
interest  by  the  end  of  the  day  ?  If  we  assent  to  the 
latter  object,  we  shall  see  that  the  organized  work 
and  organized  play  have  done  little  to  satisfy  the 
desire  which  lies  at  the  root  of  every  individual — 
the  wish  to  do  something  personal,  perhaps  secret, 
and  to  be  an  individual.  Happy  the  boy  who 
when  the  day  is  over  has  fully  expressed  himself, 
and,  having  exhausted  all  his  latent  energy,  has 
a  wholesome  desire  to  give  himself  to  that  nega- 
tion of  all  self,  sleep.  Unhappy  the  adolescent  who 
during  the  day  has  been  taught  much  and  has  found 
out  nothing,  and  who  has  to  discover  in  moral 
depravity  and  sexual  perversity  an  outlet  to  his 
real  self  which  until  nightfall  has  been  denied  him. 


SELF-ASSERTION :  THE  PSYCHOLOGIST'S  ASPECT   159 

We  have  often  weakened  his  nervous  system  by  a 
constant  attention  foreign  to  the  period  of  adoles- 
cence, but  have  left  his  personal  energy  unsatisfied. 
When  the  desire  for  self-realization  receives  no 
wholesome  outlet,  and  the  boy  realizes  that  his 
powers  are  only  exercised  in  illegitimate  pursuits, 
he  loses  all  the  self-respect  and  personal  pride  which 
is  at  the  root  of  all  healthy  development  and  whole- 
some manhood. 


CHAPTER  VII 

SELF-ASSERTION  :    THE   PHYSIOLOGICAL   ASPECT 

The  trained  athlete — Team  games — The  attempt  to  manufacture 
self-expression — Pleasure  and  self-realization — Laughter — 
Swimming — The  scout  movement — Over-fatigue — Chemical 
activities  and  personal  interest. 

THE  TRAINED  ATHLETE. — In  Sweden  there  is  a 
coveted  badge  for  athletics,  which  is  only  given  to 
those  who  can  show  an  all-round  excellence  sustained 
for  a  considerable  period,  and,  although  the  owners 
may  socially  be  perfect  citizens,  the  principle 
must  necessarily  rob  athleticism  of  much  of  its 
personal  self-assertion.  The  trained  athlete  may 
be  an  excellent  study  to  the  artist  or  to  the  medical 
student,  but  to  the  educationists,  whose  desire  is 
to  develop  from  within  and  not  from  without,  he 
must  be  almost  entirely  devoid  of  the  most  important 
qualities  of  man.  There  are  boys  whose  most  ad- 
mirable powers  of  self-realization  are  displayed  by 
devoting  themselves  to  the  training  of  their  bodies, 
in  which  a  fine  display  of  muscle  is  indeed  the 
expression  of  the  best  that  is  in  them ;  the  majority 
of  boys,  however,  imitate  the  eifect  of  a  desire  for 
muscular  self-expression  without  the  real  delight  in 
bodily  self-realization  by  which  alone  athleticism  is 
kept  clean  and  wholesome. 

160 


SELF-ASSERTION:  THE  PHYSIOLOGICAL  ASPECT   161 

The  whole  physiological  side  of  education  suffers 
from  a  mistaken  belief  that  athleticism  is  a  thing 
good  in  itself,  and  not  merely  a  form  of  self-expres- 
sion which  a  section  of  boys  in  every  school  may 
possibly  choose  to  adopt.  The  benefit  of  athletics 
is  not  to  be  judged  by  the  prowess  obtained  in  par- 
ticular sports,  but  by  the  amount  of  the  self-realiza- 
tion which  the  adolescent  is  able  to  obtain.  The 
desire  for  self-assertion  lies  much  deeper  than  the 
physical  fact  of  athleticism,  and,  although  the  latter 
may  be  the  result  of  the  former,  there  is  no  necessary 
relation  of  cause  and  effect. 

TEAM  GAMES. — A  cricket  or  football  team  may 
consist  of  boys  all  innately  keen  on  ball  games  who 
of  their  own  accord  have  formed  an  eleven  from 
a  desire  for  excellence,  towards  which  all  their  craving 
for  self-expression  tends ;  it  may,  on  the  other  hand, 
be  a  collection  of  boys  carefully  gathered  together 
and  drilled  in  the  fixed  laws  of  the  game  by  a  master 
who  is  incapable  even  of  grasping  the  meaning  of  the 
word  "self-realization."  Outwardly  the  two  teams 
may  be  equally  good  ;  the  character  of  the  individual 
boys  alone  shows  whether  the  exercise  is  absorbing 
all  the  energy  which  craves  for  expression,  or  is 
merely  a  passing  tribute  on  the  part  of  the  players 
to  custom  or  circumstance.  It  has  already  been 
shown  how  athleticism,  unless  it  is  founded  on  a 
real  desire  for  self-expression  in  that  direction,  seems 
to  further  rather  than  hinder  moral  perversion. 
At  present  it  seems  almost  impossible  to  judge 
whether  prowess  in  the  cricket  or  football  field  is 
a  wholesome  expression  of  superfluous  energy  or 

11  * 


162      THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

merely  a  possible  accompaniment  of  perversion  and 
immorality. 

Athleticism  must  always  remain  one  of  the  outlets 
for  adolescent  energy,  but  it  should  rest  with  each 
individual  whether  advantage  is  taken  of  the  attrac- 
tions it  offers.  The  boy  may  choose  to  develop  his 
arms  and  legs  by  cricket  or  football  for  two  reasons  : 
his  other  powers  may  not  be  so  capable  of  growth, 
or  a  better  stimulus  to  these  pursuits  may  have  been 
applied.  If  the  first  is  the  case,  we  are  wisely  giving 
the  adolescent  the  means  for  developing  what  his 
nature  craves  for,  but  if  he  takes  to  games  merely 
from  want  of  stimuli  in  other  directions,  we  may 
produce  the  worst  evils  of  the  ancient  athletes.  We 
must  be  quite  sure  that  we  have  applied  equal 
stimuli  in  other  directions  before  we  are  satisfied 
that  cricket  and  football  have  been  taken  up  because 
they  are  really  the  means  by  which  the  adolescent 
wishes  to  express  his  personality. 

The  boy  who  is  offered  Greek  or  football  will 
probably  decide  to  choose  the  latter,  but  this  may 
be  only  a  choice  of  evils.  The  narrow  life  and 
the  small  range  of  available  pursuits  which  are 
such  striking  features  of  our  school  life  often  forces 
the  adolescent  to  take  up  a  pursuit  which  does  not 
really  satisfy  all  his  energy  ;  much  of  the  cravings 
of  his  real  self  are  left  idle,  and  liable  to  instant 
capture  by  any  passing  whim.  Games  and  sports 
are  learnt  and  practised  almost  automatically,  while 
his  highest  energy  flows  into  doubtful  and  hidden 
channels. 

The  belief  in  the  heart  of  masters  that  unless 
a  boy  plays  cricket  or  football  with  moderate  pro- 


SELF-ASSERTION:  THE  PHYSIOLOGICAL  ASPECT    163 

ficiency  he  is  to  be  distrusted,  forces  many  from  pure 
expedience  to  play  these  games.  Such  prejudices 
narrow  even  more  than  necessary  the  life  of  our 
preparatory  schools,  and  the  effects  of  narrowing 
the  interests  of  boys  at  a  time  when  every  possible 
outlet  should  be  given  to  their  craving  for  new 
discovery  is  beyond  the  belief  of  those  who  have 
not  experienced  it.  When  one  reads  in  the  educa- 
tional Reports  published  by  the  British  Government 
a  few  years  ago  that  69  per  cent,  of  the  preparatory 
schools  which  contain  boys  from  ten  to  fifteen  regu- 
late the  amount  of  chocolates  that  they  may  eat, 
one  marvels  that  our  adolescent  grows  up  with  any 
sense  of  self-respect  and  responsibility.  How  in- 
valuable a  little  over-indulgence  and  the  consequent 
voluntary  abstinence  would  be  ! 

Considering  the  education  we  give  our  adolescents, 
I  think  that  the  extent  to  which  they  indulge  their 
animal  desires  when  they  leave  school  is  hardly  in 
excess  of  what  we  might  expect ;  the  masters  who 
although  condemning  the  evils,  uphold  the  system 
which  produces  them  are  the  most  to  blame. 

THE  ATTEMPT  TO  MANUFACTURE  SELF-EXPRES- 
SION.— The  mockery  of  self-expression  which  we  so 
often  see  in  our  preparatory  schools  is  at  present 
deceiving  less  and  less  the  more  acute  and  educated 
parents.  One  example  will  suffice  to  show  the 
extent  to  which  our  schoolmasters  attempt  to  manu- 
facture the  spontaneous  activity  which  a  more 
enlightened  age  will  consider  the  highest  and 
holiest  thing  in  nature.  The  head  master  of  a  large 
boarding  school  once  realized  with  considerable  per- 


164      THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

ception  and  truth  that  cheering  on  the  part  of  boys 
showed  a  hearty  and  wholesome  display  of  energy 
and  interest.  The  conditions  of  the  school  were  not, 
however,  those  which  fostered  spontaneous  activity, 
and  at  speech-days  his  boys  were  shy,  diffident,  and 
seldom  disposed  to  cheer  with  heartiness.  To  go  to 
the  root  of  the  various  factors  which  caused  this  lack 
of  cheering  was  a  task  for  which  the  head  master 
had  neither  the  time,  ability,  nor,  probably,  the  desire. 
He  thought,  therefore,  of  a  plan  which  was  easy  and 
almost  sure  of  success  :  he  taught  the  boys  to  cheer 
loudly  and  heartily  when  parents  were  present,  at 
times  which  he  and  other  masters  might  consider 
suitable.  At  a  given  moment  during  speech-day  the 
master  gave  the  signal,  and  the  boys  gave  vent  to 
what  the  unenlightened  parents  were  supposed  to 
believe  was  spontaneous  cheering.  The  result  was 
a  study  for  all  interested  in  education.  The  cheer- 
ing was  loud — the  head  master  had  commanded  it  to 
be.  The  cheering  was  long — it  had  been  so  ordered  ; 
but  there  were  only  two  boys  who  were  giving  vent 
to  their  spontaneous  feelings,  and  these,  with  their 
hands  over  their  mouths,  were  smothering  their 
laughter  in  a  corner  of  the  schoolroom. 

It  is,  perhaps,  from  such  examples  that  one  obtains 
a  clear  insight  into  the  difference  between  true  self- 
realization  and  the  worthless  imitation  so  often 
existing  under  our  present  system  of  education. 

PLEASURE  AND  SELF-REALIZATION. — Mr.  Spiller, 
in  his  work  "  The  Mind  of  Man,"  has  defined 
pleasure  as  an  excitability  which  can  be  consciously 
controlled  by  the  individual  who  is  experiencing  it, 


SELF-ASSERTION :  THE  PHYSIOLOGICAL  ASPECT   165 

and  pain  as  an  excitability  over  which  the  individual 
has  no  conscious  control.  If  we  allow  that  a 
pleasurable  method  of  activity  is  also  the  best,  we 
find  from  Mr.  Spiller's  definition  that  it  can  only 
be  obtained  by  allowing  the  pupil,  and  not  the 
master,  to  control  and  regulate  the  action.  Ex- 
perienced teachers  seem  almost  unanimous  in  accept- 
ing this  definition  of  joyful  work,  and  agree  that  the 
amount  of  pleasure  which  a  boy  or  girl  experiences 
in  any  task  depends  whether  it  arises  from  an  inward 
desire  to  learn  or  from  the  outward  force  of  inevit- 
able circumstances. 

Sir  Arthur  Mitchell,  in  dealing  with  the  most 
elementary  examples  of  self-assertion,  which  to  the 
casual  observer  appear  more  obviously  spontaneous 
than  the  more  complicated  acts  and  thoughts  of 
after-life,  finds  a  stumbling-block  when  he  investi- 
gates the  question  of  the  effects  of  tickling.  In  his 
book  on  "  Dreaming,  Laughing,  and  Blushing,"  Sir 
Arthur  Mitchell  states  that  though  tickling  pro- 
duces laughter,  and  is  a  source  of  obvious  enjoyment 
to  many  who  ask  to  be  tickled,  it  is  sometimes  most 
painful,  and  has  even  been  known  to  cause  death. 
Sir  Arthur  Mitchell  would  have  had  this  difficulty 
solved  if  he  had  realized  that  tickling  is  in  itself 
neither  painful  nor  pleasurable,  and  that  its  effects 
on  the  individual  depend  entirely  on  Mr.  Spiller's 
analysis  of  pleasure  and  pain. 

In  the  light  of  this  definition  the  question  of 
tickling  becomes  at  once  clear  and  simple.  The 
individual  experiences  the  pleasurable  sensation  of 
being  tickled  so  long  as  he  is  certain  that  a  direct 
appeal  to  the  person  tickling  will  produce  a  cessation 


166      THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

of  the  feeling ;  when,  however,  this  certainty  is  dis- 
pelled, and  cessation  or  continuance  is  discovered  to 
be  entirely  outside  the  victim's  control,  then  the 
feeling  of  pleasure  gives  way  to  that  of  pain.  By 
following  this  argument  a  little  further,  we  under- 
stand in  a  new  and  clear  light  not  only  the  joy  of 
the  masochist,  but  also  of  the  saint  who  suffers 
voluntary  martyrdom  for  his  cause.  An  atheist 
caught  by  savages  might  suffer  exactly  the  same 
tortures  as  a  missionary  captured  by  hostile  natives, 
yet  it  has  been  often  shown  that  in  the  saint 
endurance  of  voluntary  suffering  produces  pleasure 
rather  than  pain,  while  the  atheist  who  is  tortured 
against  his  will  suffers  pain  unalloyed  with  pleasure. 

LAUGHTER. — Without  entering  into  the  question 
of  whether  laughter  is,  according  to  Hobbes,  the 
sudden  glory  of  an  appreciation  of  the  inferiority 
of  others,  or  merely  the  rejoicing  over  the  discovery 
of  a  former  inferiority  in  ourselves,  there  is  little 
doubt  that  it  is  a  wholesome  expression  of  self- 
assertion,  and,  being  quickly  conceived  and  quickly 
expressed,  it  naturally  appeals  more  to  the  adolescent 
than  forms  of  self-realization  which  require  a  more 
prolonged  concentration  of  thought. 

The  lack  of  laughter  in  our  games  is  no  doubt 
one  of  the  most  striking  features  of  our  school  life, 
and  it  may  be  a  sign  that,  although  apparently  more 
devoted  to  games  than  the  foreigner,  less  of  our  real 
self  finds  expression  in  them.  The  system  on  which 
we  organize  our  school  games  and  sports  no  doubt 
suffers  from  much  the  same  faults  as  our  system  of 
work  and  instruction ;  organization  has  replaced 


SELF-ASSERTION:  THE  PHYSIOLOGICAL  ASPECT   167 

spontaneity,  and  joy  is  often  absent  in  the  playing- 
field  as  in  the  classroom.  Rules  are  necessary  both 
in  work  and  play,  but  only  when  they  are  self-made 
will  they  help  to  develop  individual  thought  and 
self-reliant  action. 

Many  authorities  who  believe  in  team  games,  and 
look  upon  discipline  as  coming  from  without  and  not 
from  within,  imagine  that  the  mutual  dependence 
of  the  various  members  of  a  cricket  or  football  team 
has  a  wholesome  influence  on  after-life.  It  is  doubt- 
ful, however,  whether  the  co-ordinate  action  in  a 
game  of  football  or  cricket  really  produces  a  greater 
unselfishness  and  realization  of  the  rights  of  others 
than  the  more  individual  action  in  tennis  or  golf. 

The  general  morality  of  a  school  is  certainly  better 
judged  by  the  number  of  wholesome  spontaneous 
acts  which  appear  openly  on  the  surface  than  by  the 
prowess  at  work  and  play  organized  by  others,  and 
which  often  requires  the  unhealthy  suppression  of 
adolescent  instincts.  Laughter  is  seldom  feigned 
during  adolescence,  and  its  presence  in  games  is 
often  a  sign  of  continued  and  live  interest.  Athleti- 
cism loses  the  whole  of  its  wholesome  influence  when 
personal  thought  and  effort  disappear,  and  its  feats 
become  almost  automatisms. 

In  the  "  fooling  "  of  the  schoolroom  laughter  often 
rings  in  a  truer  and  freer  spirit  than  in  the  organized 
sports  of  the  playing-field  ;  in  the  carrying  out  of 
personal  hobbies  supervised  but  not  directed  by  the 
master  the  most  wholesome  atmosphere  no  doubt 
prevails ;  the  evil  which  surrounds  the  defeated 
warrior  or  the  triumphant  conqueror  in  the  organized 
sports  of  to-day  is  conspicuously  absent  when 


168      THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

boys  are  left  to  the  free  regulation  of  their  own 
pursuits. 

SWIMMING. — In  swimming  more  than  in  any  other 
sport  the  adolescent  can  give  vent  to  his  energy  in 
the  freest  and  most  personal  manner  possible.  The 
good  effects  of  swimming  have  long  been  recognized, 
and  we  have  frequently  realized  its  excellent  moral 
influence,  but  it  is  only  within  the  last  few  years 
that  we  have  begun  to  understand  its  psychological 
as  well  as  its  physiological  value.  We  are  learning 
that  it  is  not  only  the  physical  exercise  in  swimming 
that  is  healthy,  but  also  the  free  and  unrestrained 
evaporation  of  mental  energy  which  this  sport  alone 
allows. 

I  remember  well  at  my  own  preparatory  school 
there  was  an  hour  in  the  morning  when  those 
who  had  worked  well  were  allowed  to  swim,  while 
those  who  had  failed  to  satisfy  their  masters  were 
compelled  to  drill.  There  were  continual  complaints 
of  bullying  during  playtime,  and  much  was  being 
done  to  try  and  stop  it,  but  the  masters  were  too 
busy  in  suppressing  results  to  think  for  a  moment  of 
studying  causes.  If  any  master  had  been  interested 
in  the  causes  of  bullying  he  would  have  found  plenty 
of  food  for  reflection  in  the  playground  at  twelve 
o'clock.  The  boys  who  had  been  drilled  for  an  hour 
as  a  punishment  came  exasperated  from  the  drill- 
ground,  and  at  once  set  upon  the  first  small  boys  they 
met.  The  contingent  from  the  swimming-bath  had 
healthily  exhausted  all  their  desire  for  self-expres- 
sion ;  they  were  in  no,  mood  for  bullying  or  ragging. 
Both  the  boys  from  the  swimming-bath  and  the  boys 


SELF-ASSERTION:  THE  PHYSIOLOGICAL  ASPECT   169 

from  the  drill-ground  had  vigorously  exercised  their 
bodies,  but  the  former  only  had  obtained  a  whole- 
some outlet  for  the  self  which  craved  for  expression  ; 
in  the  minds  of  the  boys  from  the  drill-ground 
the  unsatisfied  desire  for  self-assertion  still  fer- 
mented. 

A  boy  cannot  be  made  to  swim  in  the  same  way 
as  he  can  be  made  to  drill ;  his  actions  must  be  more 
really  his  own.  At  first  a  little  tact  may  have  to  be 
used  to  enable  the  boy  to  enter  the  swimming-bath 
of  his  own  free-will,  and  there  are  a  few  for  whom  a 
judicious  direction  of  desire  is  necessary.  When 
once,  however,  the  boy  or  girl  is  at  home  in  the 
water,  there  is  probably  no  sphere  in  which  the 
desire  for  self-assertion  finds  such  full  and  free 
expression.  In  the  learning  as  well  as  the  accom- 
plishment of  the  task  of  swimming  there  is  a  neces- 
sary self-development  which  no  outward  control  can 
possibly  crush  or  hinder. 

The  open  swimming-bath,  which  is  used  only  a 
few  days  a  week  in  summer,  is  comparatively  useless  ; 
it  is  during  the  wet,  dreary  days  of  winter  that  the 
boy  finds  his  outlets  narrowed,  his  individuality 
cramped,  and  many  attractive  evils  suggesting  them- 
selves. The  small  sum  which  Mr.  Dowding  in  the 
Government  Reports  suggests  as  sufficient  for  a 
covered  swimming-bath,  moderately  heated,  would 
surely  be  well  spent  by  every  head  master  who 
wishes  to  suppress  the  causes  as  well  as  the  effects 
of  immorality. 

The  school  swimming  -  bath,  as  Mr.  Dowding 
suggests,  should  be  conspicuous  and  public ;  it 
should  occupy  a  proud  and  not  a  hidden  position 


170     THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

in  the  school.  Visitors  should  stroll  in  and  out  at 
will,  and  all  feeling  of  shame  and  privacy  should  be 
absent.  The  swimming  competitions  should  be  one 
of  the  most  important  events  in  the  school  winter 
calendar,  and  the  prizes  should  be  distributed  by 
a  prominent  individual  whom  all  respect.  The  bath 
should  have  no  dressing-rooms,  and  if  the  head 
master  is  doubtful  of  his  pupils,  there  is  the  greater 
reason  for  publicity.  Even  in  criminal  reformatories 
public  opinion  is  found  to  be  the  surest  guardian  of 
morality  and  good  behaviour,  and  many  question- 
able actions  and  doubtful  conversations  take  place 
in  private  which  would  naturally  evaporate  in  an 
open  atmosphere. 

"The  daily  swim,"  writes  Mr.  Dowding,  "has  a 
moral  influence  far  surpassing  its  physical  effect  in 
value.  The  decency  of  the  clad  or  secluded  is 
negative,  but  the  decency  of  the  unashamedly 
naked  is  positive."  No  one  who  has  ,had  any 
experience  of  adolescents  can  deny  that  innocence 
does  not  consist  in  ignorance,  but  rather  in  the  right 
assimilation  of  knowledge.  Morality  in  schools  is 
not  achieved  by  the  mere  absence  of  perverted 
knowledge,  but  by  -a  positive  moral  attitude 
towards  the  facts  of  bodily  growth  and  develop- 
ment. If,  as  Mr.  Dowding  assures  us,  his  boys 
chat  with  him  equally  unconcerned  whether  clad  or 
naked,  then  surely  his  school  should  be  an  object  of 
envy  and  an  example  of  excellence  to  every  head 
master  in  England. 

THE  SCOUT  MOVEMENT. — One  of  the  difficulties  of 
meeting  the  requirements  which  healthy  develop- 


SELF-ASSERTION:  THE  PHYSIOLOGICAL  ASPECT   171 

ment  demands  is  that  the  master  must  be  constantly 
providing  an  environment  of  which  the  adolescent 
must  make  spontaneous  use.  He  is  obliged  to  be 
arranging  wholesome  work  or  games,  the  initiation 
and  organization  of  which  he  must  leave  as  far  as 
possible  to  his  pupils.  A  genuine  attempt  to  pro- 
vide wholesome  outlets  for  the  spirit  of  adventure 
and  the  desire  for  self-expression  has  been  made  by 
General  Baden-Powell  in  his  suggestion  of  the  scout 
movement.  Boys  are  not  commanded  to  join  the 
scouts,  and  they  can  leave  them  at  will.  They 
enter  the  scout  brigade  as  an  individual  enters  a 
profession,  in  the  hope  ithat  they  will  find  a  means 
of  developing  their  character  in  the  direction  to 
which  their  desires  point. 

From  an  educational  point  of  view  the  whole 
movement  of  the  Boy  Scouts  depends  for  its 
success  on  the  amount  of  freedom  and  activity 
which  it  allows  to  its  members.  In  so  far  as 
the  scout- master  leaves  the  initiation  of  games 
and  expeditions  to  the  boys,  and  approaches  them 
as  a  helper  and  not  a  teacher,  so  far  will  the 
scout  work  do  good  and  be  appreciated  by  the  most 
intelligent  and  best  type  of  boy  ;  but  in  so  far  as 
the  scout  movement  merely  provides  a  slightly  more 
interesting  form  of  drill,  so  far  will  it  be  despised  by 
the  boy  whose  active  spirit  craves  for  true  self- 
realization.  Many  a  boy  would  join  the  scout  move- 
ment if  he  could  feel  more  assured  that  he  was  going 
to  be  taught  how  he  could  satisfy  his  desires,  and 
was  not  merely  going  to  be  told  what  he  ought  to 
learn.  Although  many  of  the  pursuits  suggested 
by  General  Baden-Powell  adapt  boys  to  a  colonial 


172      THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

life  which  they  have  no  intention  of  leading,  the 
general  occupations  of  the  scouts  form  an  admirable 
and  unique  outlet  for  the  energetic  cravings  of 
many  adolescents. 

The  fact  that  the  unfortunate  boy  caged  in  a  large 
preparatory  school  and  seldom  allowed  out  without 
a  master  could  never  become  such  a  wholesome  thing 
as  a  scout  may  emphasize  the  absurdity  of  our 
present  system.  Even  the  boy  at  Westminster  must 
read  with  a  cynical  smile  the  suggestions  of  General 
Baden- Powell  when  he  reflects  that  if  he  crosses 
Victoria  Street  he  will  be  punished  for  being  out  of 
bounds.  The  middle  -  class  boy  who  has  not  the 
misfortune  of  being  imprisoned  in  a  boarding  school 
of  our  present  type  can  alone  take  advantage  of  the 
scout  movement,  although  it  is  just  this  boy  whose 
comparative  morality  makes  self-absorbing  pursuits 
less  necessary.  For  the  exploring  spirit  of  the  boy 
imprisoned  in  the  boarding  school  immorality  seems 
the  only  outlet.  The  pluck  and  foresight  which  a 
walk  from  London  to  Manchester  without  provender 
or  money  produces  is  badly  needed  in  our  large 
preparatory  and  public  schools.  Self-reliance  can 
never  be  taught  when  every  task  is  guided  and 
controlled  from  outside,  and  until  the  head  masters 
of  our  large  boarding  schools  realize  that  it  is  only 
in  the  performance  of  voluntary  and  unguided 
actions  that  real  growth  takes  place,  there  can  be 
no  improvement  in  the  education  of  the  wealthier 
sections  of  the  community.  It  is  the  freedom  that 
in  the  United  States  is  allowed  in  criminal  colonies 
which  is  wanted  in  our  large  boarding  schools. 
Obedience  may  be  a  good  training  for  citizenship, 


SELF-ASSERTION!  THE  PHYSIOLOGICAL  ASPECT    173 

but  it  is  not  the  only  training  which  a  useful 
citizen  requires.  A  spirit  of  rational  thought  and 
self-reliance  is  quite  as  important  a  factor  in  a 
democracy  as  the  ability  to  obey  blindly  the  will  of 
others. 

OVER-FATIGUE. — One  of  the  chief  secondary  ad- 
vantages of  activities  which  are  self-imposed  is  that 
the  danger  of  over-fatigue  vanishes.  Pathological 
fatigue  seldom  comes  from  too  much  purely  voluntary 
work  of  brain  or  body  ;  work  when  self-controlled  is 
regulated  by  a  natural  automatic  break  which  causes 
the  adolescent  to  leave  off  work  when  he  is  tired ; 
cases  of  exhaustion  and  of  overwork  can  nearly 
always  be  traced  to  external  pressure,  to  forcing 
development  instead  of  allowing  growth.  The  fears 
of  parents  and  masters  as  to  over-fatigue  are  due  to 
the  fact  that  they  are  directing  an  individual  of 
which  they  cannot  have  any  adequate  knowledge. 
The  task  insisted  on  may  be  too  prolonged  or  too 
hard,  or,  what  is  as  great  an  evil,  not  sufficient  for 
the  power  of  the  adolescent. 

If  the  work  during  adolescence  were  self-directed, 
not  only  would  the  dangers  of  over- fatigue  be  lessened, 
but  the  actual  output  of  work  without  fatigue  would 
be  greater.  It  is  a  well-known  fact  among  all  workers 
that  self-directed  efforts  often  do  not  impose  nearly 
so  much  nervous  strain  as  the  constant  obedience  to 
the  commands  of  others  ;  when  the  manner  and  exact 
time  of  work  is  directed  by  an  outside  power,  work 
does  not  seem  to  proceed  as  easily  or  as  healthily  as 
if  self-imposed.  The  healthy  adolescent  is  usually 
tired  more  from  the  quality  than  the  quantity  of 


174     THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

his  work  ;  he  is  possessed  of  an  almost  limitless 
activity  in  matters  that  interest  him.  When  we 
grasp  these  facts  more  fully  and  allow  the  adolescent 
to  work  on  lines  of  self-realization,  we  shall  find  that 
his  power  of  concentration  is  greatly  increased  by 
the  pleasure  he  feels  in  his  work,  and  that  the 
danger  of  both  moral  perversion  and  nervous  exhaus- 
tion is  reduced  to  a  minimum. 

CHEMICAL  ACTIVITIES  AND  PERSONAL  INTEREST. 
— Our  desire  should  be  to  allow  a  full  expenditure 
of  energy  during  adolescence  without  an  undue  ex- 
haustion of  the  nervous  system.  If  we  investigate 
cases  of  nervous  breakdown  during  adolescence  we 
often  find  that  it  is  the  manner  of  study  rather  than 
the  amount  of  work  that  is  the  cause,  and  this  is  as 
true  physiologically  as  psychologically.  The  form  of 
exercise  most  convenient  to  the  master  is  seldom  the 
best  for  the  adolescent.  The  most  beneficent  result 
of  exercise  is  the  increased  flow  of  blood  and  the  rapid 
elimination  of  waste  products,  and  such  chemical  ac- 
tivities are  probably  due  far  more  to  the  activity  of 
the  brain  produced  by  real  interest  than  to  the  amount 
of  actual  bodily  work  which  may  be  apparent. 


CHAPTEE   VIII 

FUTURE   IDEALS 

The  improved  type  of  master — The  effect  of  a  rational  master  on 
the  adolescent — Morality  and  the  realization  of  civic  life — 
Keligion. 

THE  IMPROVED  TYPE  OF  MASTER. — In  the  past 
educational  progress  has  been  hindered  by  our 
rigid  belief  in  the  antagonism  between  instinct 
and  morality.  It  will  not  be  long  before  we  realize 
that  the  instincts  inherent  in  human  nature  are 
in  themselves  neither  good  nor  evil — that  they  are 
merely  vague  cravings  and  half- formed  wishes,  whose 
character  has  still  to  be  developed.  The  differences 
which  we  supposed  existed  between  instinct  and 
morality  will  soon  be  lost  in  the  discovery  that 
instinct  is  too  fundamental  to  be  either  moral  or 
immoral. 

Already  we  are  seeing  clear  signs  that  education 
is  being  raised  to  the  rank  of  a  science.  We  shall 
not  immediately  obtain  schoolmasters  with  the 
insight  of  Robert  Louis  Stevenson  or  the  ability  of 
Professor  William  James,  but  we  are  already  demand- 
ing men  who  have  made  a  study  of  adolescent  develop- 
ment, and  not  those  whose  only  qualification  is  a 
degree  in  some  other  science.  The  bromides  and 
platitudes  with  which  the  moralist  of  last  century 

175 


176      THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

dealt  with  immorality  and  perversion  are  becoming 
inadequate  to  satisfy  the  needs  of  our  growing  intel- 
ligence. When  the  sexual  pervert  is  discovered,  we 
are  not  satisfied  with  the  master  who  suggests  bad 
companionship  or  want  of  exercise  as  the  cause,  and 
then  dismisses  the  subject ;  we  wish  to  have  a  more 
scientific  treatment  of  a  disease  so  prevalent  among 
our  upper  classes.  In  an  age  in  which  most  authorities 
agree  that  insanity  exists  in  the  thoughts  of  all,  and 
that  it  is  the  expression  rather  than  the  presence  of 
perverted  ideas  that  needs  prevention,  we  naturally 
turn  to  the  school  environment,  which  often  produces 
the  worst  forms  of  self-expression.  Want  of  exer- 
cise may  be  one  factor,  bad  companionship  may  be 
another ;  but  these  are  not  the  only  factors  which 
place  the  adolescent  in  the  position  of  the  savage 
who,  "  with  the  mansions  of  his  soul  unfurnished, 
buries  his  restless  energy  under  its  shadow." 

The  adolescent  would  yearn  for  the  natural  and 
sane  forms  of  expression  as  much  as  the  adult  if  he 
were  only  allowed  a  little  more  latitude  of  thought 
and  action.  The  love  of  discovery  is  as  dear  to  the 
heart  of  the  growing  boy  as  it  was  to  Lessing  when 
he  chose  the  search  after  Truth  and  rejected  the 
revelation  which  the  Almighty  offered  him.  Few 
parents  would  take  long  in  deciding  for  what  profes- 
sion their  boys  were  suited  if  during  their  adolescence 
they  had  offered  a  wide  field  of  choice  in  work  and 
play,  and  allowed  them  opportunities  to  develop 
their  talents  in  congenial  subjects. 

As  soon  as  parents  discover  that  there  is  a  need 
for  an  improved  type  of  schoolmaster,  who  does  not 
think  of  his  boys  perpetually  in  terms  of  athletics 


FUTURE  IDEALS  177 

and  scholarships,  the  better  type  of  schoolmaster 
will  at  once  appear.  But  the  parents  of  the 
future  can  only  improve  their  children's  education 
by  a  continued  demand  to  see  the  masters  who  are 
going  to  have  charge  of  their  boys,  and  by  laugh- 
ing at  their  vague  generalizations  and  moral 
platitudes ;  they  must  require  a  wide  and  compre- 
hensive knowledge  of  the  various  sides  of  adolescent 
development. 

It  is  strange  to  find  Mr.  C.  T.  Wickham  writing 
in  the  Government  Education  Reports  lately  pub- 
lished that  he  cannot  discuss  the  effects  of  alcohol 
and  meat  on  boys  because  he  is  not  a  doctor ;  such 
a  statement  will  before  long  receive  as  much  ridicule 
as  that  of  a  doctor  who  refuses  to  examine  the 
schoolboy  medically  because,  forsooth,  he  is  not  a 
schoolmaster.  Much  of  the  disrespect  with  which 
we  treat  the  schoolmaster  may  be  our  own  fault, 
but  surely  some  of  it  may  be  due  to  his  utter 
ignorance  of  many  of  the  most  elementary  facts 
concerning  the  well-being  of  our  children. 

The  schoolmaster  of  the  future  will  no  longer  be 
allowed  to  continue  in  the  isolated  position  which 
he  at  present  occupies ;  many  will  welcome  the 
change,  but  some  masters  may  dread  the  increased 
intimacy  with  parents  and  boys.  Such  an  amusing 
type  of  master  I  once  knew  intimately.  He  was 
a  bachelor  of  about  forty-five,  disliked  all  parents 
on  principle,  and  therefore  never  saw  them ;  he 
also,  apparently,  disliked  any  communications  be- 
tween himself  and  his  pupils.  He  always  strictly 
forbade  his  boys  to  ask  him  any  question  in  class 
on  any  subject  whatever,  and  during  one  hot 

12 


178     THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

summer  term  his  passion  for  silence  became  such 
that  he  decided  that  not  only  should  no  boy 
speak  to  him,  but  that  he  on  his  part  would  never 
speak  to  his  pupils.  It  was  obviously  not  an  easy 
plan  to  carry  out,  for,  although  papers  could  be 
corrected  and  silently  handed  back  marked  "  right " 
or  "wrong,"  the  daily  work  had  to  be  set  at  the 
beginning  of  each  lesson.  The  complete  cessation 
of  all  verbal  communication  between  himself  and  his 
pupils  was,  however,  achieved  by  means  of  a  black- 
board, on  which  he  wrote  : 

"Ex.  XII.     Nos.  1-12.     If  heat  is  felt,  coats 
may  be  taken  off." 

THE  EFFECT  OF  A  RATIONAL  MASTER  ON  THE 
ADOLESCENT. — The  rational  master  will  without 
doubt  produce  the  rational  adolescent.  Punish- 
ments and  prizes  may  not  die  out  in  England  as 
quickly  as  they  are  at  present  disappearing  in 
Denmark,  but  the  punishments  which  exist  will  be 
administered  in  a  spirit  of  scientific  reform,  and  not 
of  revenge.  Between  a  narrow-minded  schoolmaster 
and  a  half-educated  boy  the  present  atmosphere  of 
mutual  antagonism  and  reciprocal  revenge  is  easily 
maintained,  but  when  a  common  aim  inspires  both 
master  and  boy  such  a  spirit  can  no  longer  exist.  The 
mission  of  our  schools  will  be  to  guide  and  not  to  stamp 
out  individuality.  If  "  roughing  it "  at  a  large  school 
means  the  suppressing  of  all  wholesome  personality 
and  self-respect,  and  possibly,  if  not  probably,  moral 
perversion,  then  we  must  come  to  the  conclusion 
that  this  mode  of  "  roughing  it  "  is  not  good.  "  The 
public  school  as  I  saw  it,"  writes  an  experienced 


FUTURE  IDEALS  179 

authority,  "  seemed  entirely  repressive,  and  only  to 
allow  self-expression  in  regard  to  athletics  ;  nothing 
else  seemed  to  count ;"  and  although  the  writer 
forgets  the  perverted  forms  of  self-expression,  there 
is  probably  much  truth  in  what  he  says.  To-day 
both  parents  and  masters  are  too  much  in  the  grip  of 
the  present  system  to  view  it  fairly,  but  when  a  few 
free  themselves  from  the  claims  of  convention  and 
tradition,  we  may,  in  the  words  of  the  scientist, 
expect  friction,  followed  by  heat,  and  subsequently 
by  light. 

To-day  we  have  only  partly  realized  the  adoles- 
cent's delight  in  communication,  in  construction,  in 
artistic  realization  ;  we  have  not  fully  understood 
that  the  adolescent  prefers  the  worst  of  his  own 
performances  to  the  finest  production  on  the  part  of 
someone  else.  We  have  failed  to  grasp  the  morality 
of  the  undisciplined  and  disobedient  boy,  and  we 
have  not  realized  that  obedient  servants  are  often 
more  prone  to  perversion  than  their  masters,  who 
have  learnt  a  pride  in  self-control.  At  our  schools 
we  have  suppressed  the  spirit  of  adventure,  and 
produced  immorality  and  sexual  perversions  ;  at  our 
Universities  we  have  denied  the  undergraduate  the 
wholesome  society  of  girls  of  his  own  class,  and 
he  has  become  intimate  with  the  lowest  type  of 
women. 

Sexual  instruction,  the  encouragement  of  healthy 
self-assertion,  and  the  mixed  school,  will  no  doubt 
each  play  an  important  part  in  the  improvement  of 
our  educational  system,  and  if,  as  the  two  sexes  mix 
in  close  intimacy  during  adolescence,  our  higher 
sensitive  feelings  are  shocked  by  premature  flirta- 


180     THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

tions,  we  must  remember  that  they  are  the  fore- 
shadowings  —  vague,  uncertain,  perhaps  vulgar 
though  they  be — of  the  greatest  moments  in  human 
life,  whereas  the  present  alternative  of  sexual  per- 
version foreshadows  nothing  but  the  crudest  and 
most  selfish  vices  that  have  ever  stained  civilization. 
During  adolescence  questions  of  sex  must  be 
rational  rather  than  ethical.  Our  commandments 
with  regard  to  the  most  positive  function  in  life 
must  no  longer  be  purely  negative.  The  shame 
which  the  adolescent  feels  in  regard  to  sexual  facts 
is  largely  due  to  the  amount  of  unhealthy  and 
mysterious  talk  with  which  he  has  surrounded  them. 
The  adult  may  from  his  vicious  experiences  feel 
shame  in  speaking  of  sex  to  the  adolescent,  but  if 
the  adolescent  is  told  soon  enough  he  has  no  shame 
in  the  hearing.  About  sexual  matters,  as  about 
nearly  every  other  subject,  the  adolescent  wants  to 
hear  facts,  not  opinions,  and  when  hygiene  at  last 
takes  its  place  in  the  school  time-table,  sexual  in- 
struction must  occupy  a  proper  position,  and  be 
neither  emphasized  nor  ignored.  If  we  do  not  care 
to  go  the  length  of  the  picture  of  the  blind  boy 
exhibited  in  the  school  in  America,  showing  in  plain 
terms  the  result  of  sexual  ignorance,  we  can  at  least 
follow  the  advice  of  Canon  Lyttelton  of  Eton,  and 
insure  that  every  adolescent  completely  understands 
his  own  dangers  and  temptations.  The  adolescent 
respects  most  what  he  understands  best,  and  when 
sexual  matters  are  fully  understood,  then,  and  then 
only,  will  they  receive  from  him  a  proper  amount  of 
respect.  A  temptation  fully  realized  is  a  temptation 
robbed  of  half  its  power.  A  Danish  mistress  who  is 


FUTURE  IDEALS  181 

accustomed  to  lecture  on  sexual  hygiene  writes  that 
the  effects  are  excellent :  conduct  is  good,  both  during 
and  after  the  class,  and  since  she  has  adopted  sexual 
instruction  not  one  pupil,  boy  or  girl,  has  fallen  a 
victim  to  sexual  temptations. 

MORALITY  AND  THE  BEALIZATION  OF  Civic  LIFE. 
—Biologists  contend  that  a  better  realization  of 
social  duties  and  a  fuller  appreciation  of  civic  life 
will  lead  to  a  better  state  of  morality  among  all 
classes.  Among  many,  no  doubt,  the  furtherance  of 
social  welfare  takes  the  place  of  religion,  and  all 
ethical  ideas  centre  round  the  common  good.  In 
our  large  preparatory  and  public  schools  there  has 
been  up  to  now  little  attempt  to  teach  the  social 
aspect  of  personal  morality,  and  the  ideal  act  of 
patriotism  has  been  rather  one  of  momentary  bravery 
or  self-denial  than  the  more  prolonged  and  humdrum 
idea  of  a  life  spent  in  the  best  interests  of  the  com- 
munity. The  teaching  of  social  duties  would  cer- 
tainly be  in  keeping  with  our  growing  interest  in 
social  legislation,  and  in  the  full  realization  of  those 
duties  may  possibly  be  found  the  road  to  morality. 
The  present  delegation  of  authority  and  splitting-up 
of  power  among  the  various  members  of  the  com- 
munity tends  to  necessitate  a  more  detailed  teaching 
of  social  responsibility  than  when  the  exercise  of 
power  was  more  direct  and  obvious. 

Many  have  contended  that  a  journey  abroad 
during  the  holidays  breaks  down  national  prejudices, 
and  this  may  to  some  extent  be  true ;  but  at  present 
the  danger  of  antagonisms  seems  greater  between 
the  different  classes  of  each  country  than  between 


182     THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

nationalities  as  a  whole.  Boys  educated  at  our 
public  schools  become  masters  at  our  public  schools, 
children  brought  up  at  the  elementary  schools  go 
back  again  as  teachers ;  the  public-school  boy  feels 
little  sympathy  with  the  boy  brought  up  in  any 
school  which  differs  from  his  own.  He  has  been 
subject  to  severe  discipline  during  his  adolescence, 
and  is  anxious  to  discipline  others  in  the  same 
way.  The  lower  classes,  who  have  not  been  sub- 
ject to  such  severe  discipline,  and  therefore  are  not 
anxious  to  force  it  on  others,  resent  the  principles 
which  form  an  essential  part  of  our  public-school 
training. 

The  product  of  our  public  school  starts  life  with  a 
feeling  that  all  who  know  more  than  he  are  dull 
sophists,  while  all  who  know  less  are  ignorant 
loafers.  Unless  at  home  he  absorbs  an  interest  in 
social  aifairs  and  the  life  of  the  community,  the 
public-school  boy  often  grows  up  entirely  ignorant  of 
the  life  of  any  class  but  his  own. 

Adolescents  who  are  shown  intelligently  the 
varied  life  of  the  community  display  a  marked 
interest  in  State  affairs  of  all  kinds,  and  especially 
in  their  practical  execution.  The  desire  to  learn  the 
details  of  the  government  of  a  democracy  is  usually 
strong,  and  in  many  cases  our  educational  authori- 
ties alone  are  to  blame  for  not  taking  advantage  of 
it.  In  America  the  idea  of  patriotism  is  not  confined 
to  the  battle-field,  and  the  varied  duties  of  civic  life 
are  taught  as  being  closely  connected  with  the  flag 
which  flies  over  every  school.  "  In  England,"  says 
Professor  Rhys,  "  educationalists  never  think  of  the 
flag,  and  those  who  do  never  think  of  education." 


FUTURE  IDEALS  183 

At  present  it  seems  impossible,  without  a  great 
change  of  system,  to  introduce  any  social  imagina- 
tion into  the  boys  at  our  public  schools.  "  It  is 
only  as  long  as  the  boys  are  all  of  the  same  social 
class,"  writes  a  Harrow  master,  "  that  we  can 
manage  to  run  the  school."  The  head  master  of  one 
of  our  largest  public  schools  writes  rather  ironically  : 
"A  boy  must  have  great  moral  stability  if  he  is  to 
mix  with  those  of  a  higher  social  grade."  Every 
necessity  and  every  luxury  is  provided  at  our  large 
preparatory  and  public  schools  without  an  iota  of 
effort  on  the  part  of  the  boys,  and  the  lower  classes, 
whose  services  are  required  in  every  detail  of  their 
school  life,  are  as  unknown  to  them  as  if  they  did 
not  exist. 

To-day  the  mental  ability  of  the  middle  and  lower 
classes  is  rapidly  rising ;  the  master  mason  of  yester- 
day is  the  engineer  of  to-day ;  the  policeman's  son 
becomes  the  post-office  clerk ;  the  school  teacher's 
daughter  is  a  municipal  servant.  If  aristocracy  re- 
quires elasticity,  a£  Professor  Bergson  suggests,  then 
our  upper  classes  are  in  grave  danger  of  losing  their 
position.  As  we  have  already  shown,  the  greater 
energy  of  the  intelligent  boy  makes  him  more  liable 
to  sexual  perversion,  and  ambition,  while  lending  a 
helpful  hand  to  the  social  climber,  often  neglects 
the  boy  who  starts  at  the  top  of  the  ladder.  If  our 
aristocracy  becomes  prejudiced  and  automatic  in 
ideas,  then  much  of  its  intelligence  and  learning  will 
become  useless ;  but  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  our  more 
favoured  classes  will  learn  in  time  that  an  aristocracy 
can  only  be  maintained  by  its  continued  elasticity  of 
thought. 


184     THE  STUDY  OF  ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION 

RELIGION. — However  much  some  may  lament  the 
fact,  religion  during  adolescence  must  be  practical, 
and  not  metaphysical.  The  ready-made  morals 
which  at  present  are  flung  at  our  boys  arid  girls 
obtain  little  grip  on  their  character.  The  adolescent, 
unable  to  grasp  the  metaphysics  of  a  creed,  only 
searches  for  its  absurdities.  Concrete  facts  of  cause 
and  effect  are  essential  to  the  faith  of  the  adolescent. 
"  In  religious  teaching,"  says  Mr.  Gould,  "  another 
person's  faith  will  never  supplant  a  boy's  reason," 
and  many,  I  think,  will  agree  that  it  would  be  regret- 
table if  it  did. 

Whether  we  wish  to  teach  our  boys  and  girls  a 
narrow  Christian  socialism,  which  splits  straws  with 
the  non-sectarian  socialists,  or  the  idea  that  a 
national  religion  is  one  which  contains  the  united 
religions  of  all  its  people,  our  religious  instruction 
must  be  concrete  and  practical,  and  can  only  exist  if 
it  is  founded  on  a  social  ideal,  fostered  rather  than 
created  in  the  child's  mind.  "  Duty  as  a  religion," 
says  Emerson,  "  is  stronger  than  religion  as  a  duty," 
and  during  adolescence  duty  may  have  the  force  of  a 
religion,  but  religion  seldom  has  the  force  of  duty. 

There  is  little  doubt  that  in  the  past  we  have 
relied  too  much  on  the  effect  of  fine  old  buildings 
and  vague  ancient  traditions  in  the  formation  of  our 
boys'  characters.  Such  influences  only  help  the 
adolescents  who  least  need  their  aid.  It  is  the 
future  rather  than  the  past  which  we  must  trust 
for  inspiration.  We  may  ourselves  loiter  among  the 
haunts  of  past  generations,  but  when  we  under- 
take our  children's  education  we  must  look  with 
them  towards  the  future ;  we  must  teach  them  the 


FUTURE  IDEALS  185 


religion  that  is  in  our  hearts,  not  merely  the  tradi- 
tional  dogma  which  we  think  they  ought  to  believe 
Our  ideals  must  be  our  children's  ideals,  their  fears 
our  fears,  if  we  are  to  be  companions  as  well  as 
instructors  during  the  years  of  adolescence.  If  in 
our  conception  of  morals  and  religion  we  lean  on 
the  past,  we  must  not  forget,  when  the  time  comes, 
to  stretch  towards  the  future. 


THE    END 


REBMAN  LIMITED,  129  SHAFTESBURY  AVENUE,   LONDON,   W.C. 


Autumn,  1913 

Bnalpttcal  Catalogue 

Herald  Square  Building 
141-145  WEST  36th  STREET,  NEW  YORK 

Cable  Address  : 

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MONEY    WITH    ORDER 

ALL   PREVIOUS    PRICES    ARE    HEREWITH    CANCELLED. 

All  Bindings  are  Cloth,  unless  otherwise  stated. 

ANATOMY 

BARDELEBEN  and  HAECKEL— APPLIED  ANATOMY 
— Colored — One  volume — 204  wood  cuts,  with  explanatory 
text Price,  $8.00 

MORTON— THE  ABDOMEN  PROPER— Colored  plates- 
Analytical — Synthetical — (Constructive — Destructive)  — 
With  explanatory  text — One  volume Price,  $6.00 

TOLDT— ATLAS    OF   HUMAN   ANATOMY— The   Recog- 
nized Standard  of  Medical  Human  Anatomy.     Most  of 
the  plates  are  colored ;  in  six  Parts — Sold  in  single  parts 
at  option. 
Part  I. — A.     The  Regions  of  the  Human  Body  (Figures 

1  to  5).    B.    Osteology  (Figures  6  to  377).    With  Index. 

Price,  bound  in  cloth,  $2.50. 
Part  II.— C.     Arthrology  (Figures   378   to  498).     With 

Index.     Price,  bound  in  cloth,  $1.75. 
Part  III. — D.     Myology,  with  a  Supplement  on  the  An- 
atomy of  Hernia  (Figures  499  to  640).     With  Index. 

Price,  bound  in  cloth,  $2.50. 
Part  IV.— E.    Splanchnology  (Figures  641  to  932).    With 

Index.     Price,  bound  in  cloth,  $2.75. 
Part  V.— F.     Angeiology  (Figures  933  to  1123).     With 

Index.     Price,  bound  in  cloth,  $3.75. 
Part  VI.— G.    Neurology.— H.    The  Organs  of  the  Senses 

(Figures  1124  to  1505).  With  Index.     Price,  $4.75. 
Complete $18.00 


2  HERMAN'S  ANALYTICAL  CATALOGUE 

BLOOD 

EHRLICH— ANEMIA— Many  colored  illustrations...  $4.00 
SCHLEIP— Hematological  Atlas Price,  $5.00 

BRAIN 

BING— REGIONAL  DIAGNOSIS— Illustrated.. Price,  $2.50 

HOLLANDER— BRAIN  DISEASES Price,  $2.00 

KRAUSE— SURGERY  OF  THE  BRAIN— With  199  (17  of 
which  are  in  colors)  illustrations  in  the  text,  122  figures 
on  60  Plates  in  colors  and  2  Halftone  plates — over  1200 
pages.  3  vols.,  Art.  Lea Price,  $20.00 

TANZI— A  TEXTBOOK  OF  MENTAL  DISEASES— 132 
illustrations Price,  $7.00 

DIAGNOSIS 

ABRAMS— DIAGNOSTIC   THERAPEUTICS— Illustrated. 

Price,  $5.00 

ADAM— OPHTHALMOSCOPIC  DIAGNOSIS— 18  illustra- 
tions in  the  text.  86  colored  figures Price,  $6.00 

BING— REGIONAL   DIAGNOSIS Price,  $2.50 

SCHMIDT— MALIGNANT  TUMORS $4.00 

EAR 

BRAUN  and  FRIESNER— THE  LABYRINTH— 50  text- 
ual figures.  34  halftones  on  32  plates Price,  $4.00 

KOPETSKY— SURGERY  OF  THE  EAR— 63  half-tones  and 
line  drawings,  8  charts  and  4  colored  plates. Price,  $4.00 

ELECTRICITY 

ARTHUR  and  MUIR  — A  MANUAL  OF  PRACTICAL 
X-RAY  WORK— 120  illustrations Price,  $2.50 

BRUCE— A  SYSTEM  OF  RADIOLOGY Price,  $5.00 

CLEAVES— LIGHT  ENERGY— Numerous  illustrations. 
Frontispiece  in  colors Price,  $5.00 

Latest  issue 

FREUND— RADIOGRAPHY— Many  illustrations....  $3.00 


REBMAN'S   ANALYTICAL   CATALOGUE  3 

GUILLEMINOT— ELECTRICITY  IN  MEDICINE— Many 
illustrations Price,  $2.00 

JUDD— X-RAY  AND  HIGH  FREQUENCY— 56  illustra- 
tions. Several  in  colors Price,  $1.50 

SCHULTZ— X-RAY  TREATMENT  OF  SKIN  DISEASES 
—130  illustrations Price,  $3.00 

STRONG— HIGH  FREQUENCY  CURRENTS— Illustrated. 

Price,  $3.00 

STRONG— MODERN  ELECTRO-THERAPEUTICS-Illus- 
trated Price,  $1.00 

TIBBLES— THE  THEORY  OF  IONS— 8  diagrams. . .  $1.00 

EYE 

ADAM— DISEASES  OF  THE  EYE— 36  illustrations.  $2.50 
ADAM— OPHTHALMOSCOPIC    DIAGNOSIS-18  illustra- 
tions in  the  text.     86  colored  figures Price,  $6.00 

GREEFF— EXTERNAL  DISEASES  OF  THE  EYE -84 
colored  illustrations.  Half  Leather Price,  $10.00 

HIRSCHBERG-THE  TREATMENT  OF  SHORTSIGHT 
— Translated  by  G.  Lindsay  Johnson,  M.D.  12  illustra- 
tions, 132  pages.  Cloth .Price,  $1.25 

NEUSTATTER— SKIASKOPY.  Phantoms  and  Diagram- 
matical Models  in  Colors.  Explanatory  text $10.00 

ROEMER— A  TEXT-BOOK  OF  OPHTHALMOLOGY  IN 
THE  FORM  OF  CLINICAL  LECTURES— 186  black 
and  white  illustrations  in  the  text  and  58  figures  in  colors. 
896  pages Price,  $5.00 

SCOTT— REFRACTION  AND  VISUAL  ACUITY— 18  illus- 
trations, 190  pages Price,  $1.75 

FOOD 

CARRINGTON— VITALITY,  FASTING,  AND  NUTRI- 
TION—Illustrated .Price,  $5.00 

COMBE— INTESTINAL  AUTO-INTOXICATION $4.00 

GOULEY— DINING  AND  ITS  AMENITIES. .  .Price,  $2.50 
GOURAUD-WHAT  SHALL  I  EAT?. .  .  .Price,  $1.50 


4  HERMAN'S  ANALYTICAL  CATALOGUE 

GUELP  A— AUTO-INTOXICATION  AND  DISINTOXICA- 

TION Price,  $1.25 

TIBBLES— FOOD  AND  HYGIENE Price,  $1.50 

WEGELE— THERAPEUTICS  OF  THE  GASTRO-INTES- 
TINAL  TRACT $3.00 

GENITO-URINARY 

GOULEY— SURGERY  OF  GENITO-URINARY  ORGANS. 

Price,  $2.00 

HUHNER-STERILITY  IN  THE  MALE  AND  FEMALE 
AND  ITS  TREATMENT Price,  $2.00 

OPPENHEIMER— PRACTICAL  POINTS  IN  GONOR- 
RHEA   Price,  $1.00 

RUMPEL — Cystoscopy — 107  illustrations  (85  in  colors). 

Price,  $5.00 

GYNECOLOGY 

BLAND-BUTTON— DISEASES  OF  WOMEN— 127  illustra- 
tions   Price,  $3.25 

HART— GUIDE  TO  MIDWIFERY— 268  diagrams,  4  plates. 

Price,  $6.00 

JOLLY-MICROSCOPIC  DIAGNOSIS  IN  GYNECOLOGY 
—54  illustrations  (52  in  colors).  Half  Leather. Price,  $5.00 

KISCH-THE  SEXUAL  LIFE  OF  WOMAN— Illustrated. 

Price,  $5.00 

MARTIN  and.  JUNG-PATHOLOGY  AND  THERAPY  OF 
THE  DISEASES  OF  WOMEN— With  185  illustrations 
in  the  text,  many  of  which  are  in  colors Price,  $5.00 

HISTOLOGY 

KRAUSE  (Rudolf)— NORMAL  HISTOLOGY,  INCLU- 
DING MICROSCOPICAL  ANATOMY— 502  pages,  30 
figures  in  the  text,  208  magnificent  illustrations  in  many 
colors  on  98  plates.  Part  1 75c.  Part,  II $5. 50 

HYDROTHERAPY 

DIEFFENBACH— Illustrated Price,  $3.00 

HYGIENE 

SCHROETTER— THE  HYGIENE  OF  THE  LUNGS-I1- 
lustrated..  .. Price,  50  cents 


REDMAN'S  ANALYTICAL  CATALOGUE  5 

SENATOR-KAMINER— HEALTH   AND   DISEASE  IN 

MARRIAGE   AND   THE   MARRIED    STATE. . .  $5.00 
TIBBLES— FOOD  AND  HYGIENE Price,  $1.50 

HYPNOTISM 

FOREL— HYPNOTISM  AND  SUGGESTION.  ..Price,  $3.00 
HILGER— HYPNOSIS  AND  SUGGESTION. .  .Price,  $2.50 

JOURNALS 

ARCHIVES  OF  THE  ROENTGEN  RAYS. 

Per  annum,  $4.50 

JOURNAL   OF   CUTANEOUS    DISEASES. 

Per  annum,  $5.00 

MICROSCOPY 

JOLLY— MICROSCOPIC  DIAGNOSIS  IN  GYNECOLOGY 

—54  illustrations  (52 in  colors).  Half  Leather. Price,  $5.00 

KLOPSTOCK  and  KOWARSKY— CLINICAL  CHEMIS- 
TRY, MICROSCOPY  AND  BACTERIOLOGY— 70  illus- 
trations (27  in  colors).  (New  Edition) Price,  $3.00 

MISCELLANEOUS 

ANDREWS— ADOLESCENT  EDUCATION. .  .Price,  $1.50 

BAR-NET  — ACCIDENTAL   INJURIES   TO  WORKMEN. 

Price,  $2.50 

BIER— HYPEREMIA— Latest  Edition— 39  illustrations. 

Price,  $4.00 

BJORLING— BRIQUETTES Price,  $3.75 

BRADDON— BERI-BERI Price,  $5.00 

GOULEY— MORAL    PHILOSOPHY   IN    MEDICINE. 

Price,  $1.50 

HART— EVOLUTION  AND  HEREDITY Price,  $2.00 

HILGER— HYPNOSIS  AND  SUGGESTION. .  .Price,  $2.50 


6  HERMAN'S   ANALYTICAL   CATALOGUE 

KILNER— THE  HUMAN  ATMOSPHERE,  OR  THE 
AURA  MADE  VISIBLE  BY  THE  AID  OF  CHEMI- 
CAL SCREENS— Illustrated.  Book  (cloth)  separate, 
$2.00.  Screens  separate,  $2.50.  4  casebooks  separate, 
50c.  Book,  screens,  and  4  casebooks  together,  $5.00. 

KURELLA— C^SARE    LOMBROSO Price,  $1.50 

M'BRIDE  —  ALCOHOLISM    AND    DRUG    NARCOTISM. 

Price,  $2.00 
MITCHELL— THE   DOCTOR    IN    COURT $1.00 

MOORE  —  METEOROLOGY  —  PRACTICAL  AND  AP- 
PLIED   Price,  $3.00 

WACHENHEIM— CLIMATIC  TREATMENT  OP  CHIL- 
DREN  Price,  $1.50 

WAITE— THE  SECRET  TRADITION  IN  FREEMASONRY 
AND  AN  ANALYSIS  OF  THE  INTER-RELATION 
BETWEEN  THE  CRAFT  AND  THE  HIGH  GRADES 
IN  RESPECT  OF  THEIR  TERM  OF  RESEARCH, 
EXPRESSED  BY  THE  WAY  OF  SYMBOLISM— 2 
volumes,  edition  du  luxe,  28  full  page  plates  and  many 
illustrations  in  the  text.  Cloth,  gilt  top $14.00 

WHITBY— MAKERS  OF  MAN— Illustrated. .  .Price,  $3.00 
WOODRUFF— EXPANSION  OF  RACES. Price,  $4.00 

WOODRUFF— EFFECTS  OF  TROPICAL  LIGHT  ON 
WHITE  MEN Price,  $3.00 

MORPHOLOGY 

GIOVANNI  —  CLINICAL  COMMENTARIES.  Deduced 
from  the  Morphology  of  the  Human  Body — Illustrated. 

Price,    $4.50 

NERVOUS  SYSTEM 

BELOUSOW— DELINEATION  OF  THE  NERVOUS  SYS- 
TEM OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.— Illustrated  in  many 
colors— With  explanatory  text Price,  $12.00 

BING— REGIONAL   DIAGNOSIS..  ,.$2.50 


REBMAN'S  ANALYTICAL  CATALOGUE  7 

TANZI  —  MENTAL  DISEASES  — 132  illustrations  —  800 
pages Price,  $7.00 

NOSE 

BBUCK— DISEASES  OF  THE  NOSE  AND  THROAT— 
With  many  illustrations  (some  in  colors) Price,  $5.00 

FEIN— RHINOLOGY  AND  LARYNGOLOGY— Illustrated. 

Price,  $1.50 

PSYCHOLOGY 

FOBEL— THE    SEXUAL    QUESTION— Illustrated. .  .$5.00 
KISCH— THE  SEXUAL  LIFE   OF  WOMAN— Illustrated. 

Price,  $5.00 

KBAFFT-EBING— PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. .  ..$4.00 
BEED— SEX:   ITS    ORIGIN   AND    DETERMINATION. 

Price,  $3.00 

SKIN 

BULKLEY— SKIN  AND   INTERNAL   DISEASES.  .$1.50 

BULKLEY— MENSTRUAL  FUNCTION  AND  SKIN  DIS- 
EASE   Price,  $1.00 

BULKLEY— LOCAL  TREATMENT Price,  $1.00 

GABDNEB— ICONOGRAMS— 150  colored  lifelike  illustra- 
tions. Art.  Leather Price,  $7.00 

JACOBI— U.  S.  PORTFOLIO  OF  DERMOCHROMES. 
(New  Edition.)  Full  Leather,  3  vols Price,  $24.00 

NEISSEB-JACOBI  —  ICONOGRAPHIA  DERMATOLOG- 
ICA Per  issue,  $2.50 

PBINGLE— PICTORIAL  ATLAS Price,  $5.00 

SABOUBATID— REGIONAL  DERMATOLOGY $3.00 

SURGERY 

GOULEY— SURGERY  OF  GENITO-URINARY  ORGANS. 

Price,  $2.00 

KOPETSKY— SURGERY  OF  THE  EAR— Illustrated  with 
63  half-tones  and  line  drawings — 8  charts  and  4  colored 
plates Price,  $4.00 


8  REBMAN'S  ANALYTICAL  CATALOGUE 

KBATTSE— SURGERY  OF  THE  BRAIN— With  199  (17  of 
which  are  in  colors)  illustrations  in  the  text,  122  fig- 
ures on  60  Plates  in  colors  and  2  Halftone  Plates. 
Over  1200  pages.  3  vols.,  Art.  Lea Price,  $20.00 

PELS-LEUSDEN— Surgical  Operations— 668  Illustrations, 
750  pages— Cloth Price,  $5.00 

BUMPEL  -  CYSTOSCOPY  IN  SURGERY— 107  illustra- 
tions (85  in  colors) Price,  $5.00 

SYPHILIS 

BBESLEB— THE    TREATMENT    OF    SYPHILIS   WITH 

"606" Price,  $1.00 

EHBLICH  — EXPERIMENTAL  CHEMO-THERAPY  OF 

SPIRILOSES— Illustrated Price,  $4.00 

FOUBNIEB— TREATMENT  AND  PROPHYLAXIS  OF 

SYPHILIS Price,  $3.00 

MTJLZEB-THE  THERAPY  OF  SYPHILIS. .  .Price,  $1.50 
WECHSELMANN— WOLBARST  '  '606"— SALVARSAN— 

Illustrated— 16  colored  plates Price,  $5.00 

ZINSSEB-DISEASES  OF  THE  MOUTH  -  SYPHILIS 

AND  SIMILAR  DISEASES— 52  colored  plates...  $5.00 

THERAPEUTICS 

ABBAMS— DIAGNOSTIC   THERAPEUTICS— Illustrated. 

Price,  $5.00 

ADAM— OPHTHALMIC  THERAPEUTICS. ..  .Price,  $2.50 

WEGELE— THERAPEUTICS  OF  THE  GASTRO-INTES- 

TINAL  TRACT Price,  $3.00 

THROAT  AND  MOUTH 

BBUCK— DISEASES  OF  NOSE  AND  THROAT  —  Illus- 
trated   Price,  $5.00 

FEIN— RHINOLOGY  AND  LARYNGOLOGY.  .Price,  $1.50 

MOUBE— LARYNX  AND  PHARYNX Price,  $2.50 

ZINSSEB  — DISEASES  OF  THE  MOUTH  — 52  colored 
plates Price,  $5.00 


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